Charmed and Dangerous
by zippy zany
Summary: Changed future. Chris gets kidnapped when he is four and grows up in the underworld without the knowledge of ever knowing about his family or heritage. What happens when he meets his family years down the line?
1. Chapter 1

_**Summary:**__Changed future. Chris gets kidnapped when he is four and grows up without ever finding out about his family or heritage whilst in the underworld. What happens when he meets his family years down the line?_

_**Disclaimer:**__I do not own any of the characters; just borrowing them for the time being as they would not leave me alone to write other stories. So I decided to go with the flow.  
Also the name of the story comes from the episode 'The Power of the Three Blondes' where the evil witches comment that they are 'charmed and dangerous'._

_**Warning:**__This story is rated 'M' for chapter 3 which will have unpleasant things happening to our beloved character Chris. Other than that chapter this is a pretty mild story._

_**Inspiration:**__Inspiration for this story suddenly came to me; I had read a story with similar beginning years ago. I would love to remember who it was by so I can give them proper credit but apart from Chris being kidnapped at a young age there is nothing similar. I don't know if that author ever finished their story and how it ended but suddenly I wanted to know what would have happened if I wrote one myself.  
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The demon Coltac attacked the Halliwell manor. He made it look like he was attacking the Twice Blessed and the Charmed Ones however his target was the little boy that was about four years of age.

Coltac was a slaver.

He scavenged the world looking for prime slaves that he could sell to the powerful and rich who looked for magical slaves. Sometimes his customers were demons sometimes not. His sources had noticed the youngest son of the Halliwell Matriarch and reported back that he was not as powerful as the rest of the family… however he was powerful enough to sell for a very high price.

Age was important when you were grabbing magical slaves or any other type of slave for that matter. He had learned through trial and error that you needed to pick them up around 4 or 5 so their mental development would almost be complete. First of all he did not want to waste years raising a slave. Additionally, people did not want a slave who couldn't button their shirt, weren't toilet trained or who couldn't develop the ability to read if that is what their master wished. These things related to brain development as well as their magical abilities, so he allowed his targets to be raised by their families until they were ready for him. He also did not want slaves that had developed a full personality or ones that were going to remember their past— that was not good for business.

His plan went without a hitch, he lost seven lower demons (which was well worth it) to the Charmed Ones who were downstairs or in the attic trying to fend off the attack and trying to protect the Twice Blessed as the demons made it look like they were trying to kidnap him. While the attack was happening he was able to shimmer into the room he sensed the young boy was in and captured him whilst no one was able to notice him. Afterwards, he destroyed the room by throwing fireball after fireball making it look like he had killed whoever was in room instead of grabbing them.

He had done this many times before, he knew it would work. He then shimmered to some of the highest paid witches that were around in the underworld. They were capable of hiding anything and they were ready and waiting for him as per usual. He had them put the boy under so many hiding spells that the boy's own mother would not have felt him if she stood next to him. Then he shimmered all around the world to magical strongholds that covered his shimming trail so nobody would be able to follow him if they picked up his trail. He was in his own lair in the underworld before the attack on the Halliwell manor had finished.

He threw the frightened boy into a dark cell, a box really, that was two meters in length, width and a meter in height. The cell let no sound, heat or light through. In one corner there was a small hole in the ground that the child would be able to figure out what it was for from the smell alone. There was also another flap on the side where the door was so that the child could be fed. However the food would be delivered to a little compartment that the child had to push the flap to get. The flap would give the child a great shock of pain every time he touched it but if he wished to be fed he would have to bare the pain and reach for the food.

Coltac promptly forgot about his new acquisition and went to check on the other slaves he had in training… after all he had learned that it took a child about a month in darkness to forget about all that they had once been.

_Edited: July 12th, 2010._


	2. Chapter 2

The Charmed Ones looked high and low for Piper's lost child.

Each one felt guilty in their own way after it had taken them twenty minutes after the attack on the manor had finished for them to realize that Chris was missing.

The Elders tried to convince them that by the look of the room, whichever demon had come for the child had killed him as the room looked destroyed. They told the Charmed Ones that a demon with this much firepower could quite easily leave no remains.

This did very little to convince the Halliwells. The Charmed Ones and their families were certain that Chris was not dead as they would have felt him die. But after months of searching and not finding even a shred of evidence to point to the fact that he might be alive they had finally accepted the fact that Christopher Perry Halliwell was dead.

They held a small memorial for the lost child and tried to go back to their lives.

Piper could not believe that she had lost the brave and strong boy that had come back to warn them about Wyatt and had sacrificed so much for a better future. She had foolishly believed that since she had met him at age 22 he would be fine and not in danger while growing up… The idea of changed future seemed to have been lost in the translation after experiencing the death of Chris for the first time.

Leo could not believe that he had let his son down. He had made himself a promise that he would always protect the boy after losing him once. His son had died in his arms the first time, but it seemed that he had failed more the second time around— the child hadn't even had someone there for him in his final moments. He couldn't even keep his promise even for four years…

Nothing would ever be the same.

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_I know this is short, but I want to keep the lives of the charmed ones away from the life of Chris._


	3. Chapter 3

_This is the chapter that makes this story rated M. It will have mental, physical and sexual abuse of a minor. So you have been warned!_

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The slave was trying very hard to do as he was told. He was attempting to levitate in the air in order to stock the cupboards. Should he fall he would be punished by the training master that was standing a few steps back watching his every move. He didn't remember anything about his life except that he had always been here. He was in training as the training masters told him and when he was ready he would to be sold to a master who he was supposed to serve.

He did not know of anything else and rarely got to see anyone. One day he had been brought out of the darkness he resided in to be washed with freezing cold water and ordered into pants that just fell below his knees and nothing else. He was ordered never to look up and always keep his gaze on the floor. All he saw nowadays were his own toes and other people's legs and feet. He knew he could look up when he saw another slave but besides that, if he even lifted his head up he was wacked across his face. He learned very quickly to keep his head down. Despite being told otherwise, the boy was a quick study.

He was taught to kneel in the presence of a higher being and never turn his back on his superiors. They even controlled when he was supposed to go the toilet and when he ate, which was once a day. All the slaves were to eat at the same time. They were brought into a big hall and told to kneel and then handed a bowl of tasteless substance that never seemed to fill them. The boy would find himself licking the bowl clean as many of the others did. He learned all these things through pain as he was told them once and only once and punishment followed swift and hard if they were not followed.

The punishments he received were extremely painful but never scarring as the handlers and the trainers made sure to not harm the merchandise as that would decrease their value. All of the other slaves were his age as well and had many of the same difficulties as he did. But being surrounded by only handlers and fellow slaves for all of their working memory had led them to believe that this was how their lives were supposed to be. There were no other options.

He was taught everything from cleaning floors, to polishing weapons, to basic magical activities such as chopping ingredients and making basic potions. He was now very capable of levitating as well. The handlers instructed them in anything they thought they would need to help their masters. They were even shown how to pleasure men and women— his least favorite activity. He was never taken as one of the trainers told him that would be his master's privilege should he or she demand it of him but he was ordered to watch older slaves be taken so he would know what to expect. He was told by one of the handlers that he should not worry about being a body slave because although he was being trained in the ways of one, he would be very likely sold and used for his magical talents.

He learnt that there were many other slaves in training from magical to non-magical, from demons to seers. He did not know which category he fell in but tried to do everything that he was told to do to avoid punishment.

He did not know how much time had passed but one day he was brought before his owner where he was told that Master Coltac was going to see if the time and food they wasted on him was enough for him to finally be sold. If his owner thought that he was worthless then he would spend the rest of his life paying back the handlers and the trainers for their time spent on him.

He was deemed worthy to be put on the auction block. He was taken away and scrubbed roughly on the outside with freezing water and soap that stung his eyes. He was also washed very carefully on the inside, just in case his master wanted to taste him on the first night… he couldn't help the tears that fell at the intrusion. His hair was chopped sort and he was shackled ankles and wrists and a collar went around his neck before he was brought to a noisy place and placed on a block without any clothes for prospective masters and mistresses to see. After what seemed like hours he was sold to the highest bidder.

His first mistress only wanted him for his magical abilities in her potions workshop. He was shackled to the workroom's biggest table by a chain that went around his ankle. There was a magical bucket for him to use in the corner of the room that emptied itself out after it was used and he slept under the work table. He was given similar pants to wear that he wore while he was in training and he never went anywhere else. His daily jobs included such things like scrubbing the floors of the workroom, washing pots and vials that were used, and preparing ingredients for his mistress' potions and helping her actually make the potions. She was never kind or cruel. If he worked hard enough he would be given a bowl of cold porridge and some bread regardless of the mistakes he made that day.

She, however, was never forgiving of mistakes. The punishment that followed a mistake was inflexible. She liked using a willow stick to beat him on his back while he kneeled on the floor and repeated what he had done wrong after every hit. Unlike the trainers, she did not care about scarring him and in the two years he was under her care his back had collected enough scars that you would be very hard pressed to find an unscarred area.

In the two years that he was there she had unknowingly given him enough knowledge about potion making that would have made a potion master proud even at his tender age. She had found out very quickly that what she paid for the little slave was only a fraction of his real value. She had had many slaves before and she usually picked them a bit older so they could handle a knife and such but was impressed with this one's magical aura. Just in a week she found out that in addition to his impressive magic, he possessed an intelligence that went beyond his years, if he was above ground in the surface world he would probably been a prodigy of some kind.

After two years with her he could make and brew any potion known in the magical world as he had done nothing else. She never taught him how to read and write as she never thought he might not know but he made his own notes for her in her books in drawings and symbols that he made up for the ingredients and numbers. She was livid the day she found out the notes would be gibberish to anyone but him and cursed herself for not checking before. How stupid could she be! And in her rage, she unknowing tied the notebooks to him magically so they would come to him whenever he needed them. She was angry enough at her own foolish mistake of losing even gibberish notes of her potions that she sold him to a customer.

His second master was a man that took sadistic pleasures. He was a demon who was paid by mafia demon clans who didn't want to get their hands dirty by getting answers from people and demons alike. He made the boy create pain potions for him and clean up after he was done with a potential client as he called them. When he was not busy with a client he played with the boy. The boy withered under his master's hand in excruciating pain just for the demon's amusement. He learned through firsthand experience what hurt someone the most.

When his master found out that he had more magical powers available to him, he began to take the boy into his sessions and instruct him in ways to hurt people magically. The boy now knew how to use his telekinesis just the right way to crush certain bones in the body or how to throw a fireball or an energy bolt to get the results he wished. The unnamed boy learned to give pain as well as receive it.

His master lost him to another master in a game of chance two years later. His new master had no uses for him in the magical sense so he was used for entertainment for his master and his guests. He put things he had learned about pleasuring men and women to use and learned many other things. His master was the one to claim him after he found out that he was a virgin and he was given to a few others that his master liked. His master had an incredible sexual appetite so he was taken several times during a single day. He never complained as he knew of nothing else in the world, he was a slave and slaves did whatever their masters or mistresses wished.

Power and slaves changed hands very frequently in the underworld and he watched as his masters lair and all his possessions where destroyed by a rival and his slaves were sold back to a slave house to be resold. He was now old and experienced enough to be sold as anything and found himself back in his original master's hands.

Coltac was delighted; rarely did he make money off the same slave multiple times. He kept the boy around long enough to put him through retraining, not really necessary— but sometimes you never knew with the magical ones who changed hands often. He even left him in the dark cell for a few weeks. He remembered the boy being hard to break the first time. He had to spend three months in the cell before he forgot himself. The boy this time around found that he was used in the demonstrations for the sexual training of the younger ones that were there. He was also on occasion used for the entertainment and amusement of the handlers and trainers. After sometime he was once again scrubbed inside and out and sold, this time at a lower price because despite his talents he carried scars all over his body.

His last master was a warlock interested in a slave companion he could use for anything. His duties included everything from cleaning and cooking for his master, to helping him in magical matters to pleasuring him. In return he was fed well, twice a day, which the boy remembered never happening before— he had always been fed once a day as long as he could remember! Whoever wanted to feed a slave more food? His master also taught him how to read and write as he told the boy that he was not interested in an imbecile for a slave. He was beaten harshly daily by his master for his mistakes as most creatures of the underworld were taught this way. However between the beatings and rapes the boy's magical powers grew under his masters careful and cruel teachings.

The warlock was once a slave himself and had been raised the same way until he was powerful enough to break out of his magical collar that identified him as a slave of the underworld. This boy would be a slave until he too could break the collar. Until then if he ran all the people and the creatures in the underworld would recognize an escaped slave and take him themselves or sell him back to slavers for a price. The collars also had tracking magic on them in case the slave reached the above ground world without a master's approval. If that were to happen the collars would send a signal back to the original slaver who put the collar on the slave and he would be tracked and brought back.

The warlock knew all this and was determined to sell the boy off before he became powerful enough to break the collar and extract his revenge. This normally happened when they reached maturity, however, this was difficult to pinpoint as it was hard to identify what type of creature they had enslaved and when that breed typically hit adulthood. Additionally, some never grew powerful enough to break the enchantment and therefore, stayed slaves all their lives. Usually when a creature was around twenty years of age you would know whether they would break out of the enchantment or not. As his slave was around nine or ten, he didn't really care, he knew could get a few good years work and pleasure out of the boy. It never occurred to him that maybe by showing the boy some kindness he could have created a devoted slave that would never try to escape and always do his bidding.

Unknowingly, the underworld was creating the greatest power that would ever live. Every seer and prophet was waking up from dreams about a power that was coming, something unseen and untold before now. They could all taste it in the air. Even the Elders felt the power. Whether this power was for the light side or dark side of the war was unknown… something that troubled both powers greatly.

_Edited: July 12th, 2010._


	4. Chapter 4

When the Charmed Ones and the next generation heard about the coming of a new power they were not too worried.

Powers came and fell quite frequently in the magical world and they were confident that if this new power proved to be a threat they would be able to handle it. They had done so time and time again.

So they decided to ignore it until this power showed itself and they went on trying to have their normal lives outside of magic.

Perhaps things would have been different if they had decided to look for the new rising power.

_Edited: July 13th, 2010_


	5. Chapter 5

_There is an OC in this story, hopefully that does not put people off!  
Actually he is not really an OC as I pulled him out of the Charmed world. He can be seen in the season 8 episode 'The Jung and the Restless'. He is the darklighter the Charmed Ones are up against by the name of Salek portrayed by the awesome, one and only, Peter Windfield who once upon a time played the 5000 year old immortal 'Methos' on the show Highlander.  
I borrowed his character from Charmed, ignored the episode as I ignored most of season 8 and gave him a bit of character like the one he portrayed on Highlander.  
ENJOY!_

Salek enjoyed living in the underworld. The surface dwellers never noticed just how vast the underworld was. It had pockets of inhabitants under the entirety of the world's surface including the oceans and it went down several layers too. The amount of demons this planet had was unbelievable and the human population that lived on the surface of this planet would be in trouble if the entire underworld were to unite under one ruler. Many had tried but just like on the surface, no one is capable of uniting everyone.

Salek knew of and lived in cites as big and populated as New York or London in the underworld. Some you couldn't even get into nowadays as they had cut of contact from the rest of the world centuries ago. Life went on and for some of these people and creatures the surface world was a myth, something told in stories, they lived their entire lives in the underworld. Most did not have the power to shimmer or flame to the surface as the majority that lived in the underworld had no powers and the few places that you could reach the surface physically were guarded by only god knows what. When you lived down here you really did not need the surface and he always wondered what the fascination with the surface was. He used to be a surface dweller long, long ago.

A couple of millennia ago the underworld had just belonged to the demons and the surface to the humans but of course neither race could keep to their land and they had ended up mingling. Now there were more humans populating the underworld then Salek was comfortable with and probably vice versa.

Salek had been around for a while. Three and a half thousand years ago he was warrior in a little town in the Aegean part of the surface. He could still see the ruins of his town and was proud that it was somewhat still there with tourists walking around it in the summer times looking around in awe. When he was alive he had lived an honorable life and had an honorable death by dying to protect his city. He had found that he had become a whitelighter upon his death and was honored. For more than a millennia he had protected and guided those that fought for what was right.

After a while he had become disillusioned, no matter how much they fought they never seem to win and he had seen more and more of his charges make the wrong decisions and die. When he had questioned the order of things he was offered the position of Elder. He had laughed at their faces, he was older and more experienced than most of the Elders and in the end had turned his back on everything and had joined the other side. He had become a darklighter.

For the next millennia he had put all of his energy into overthrowing the balance but he never seemed to succeed. He had never cared for power himself. He had given everything he had to the battle at hand and his chosen leader. Many had tried to vanquish him but all had failed. When he was disillusioned once again and offered a position as a Dark Elder he had realized he had come a full circle and was back where he started.

He moved away from everything and had become an observer and watched the world for the next five hundred years. Finally, he realized that the world was as it was supposed to be with all its imperfections and fallen in love with the world just the way it was. When he had come to that realization, he was once again called to be a guide, a protector and a voice of reason for those that needed him. He never knew who assigned him his charges but knew that it was neither the Elders up there nor the Dark Elders of below for neither side would be happy with him having charges.

Over the last millennia he had some very interesting charges that he knew would definitely fall in the grey area of the scale. His charges would have never been accepted by a whitelighter because they were slightly evil nor by a darklighter because there was still kindness and humanity in them. He had guided and protected them to the best of his abilities and watched as some became great pillars for the light and some committed acts of evil that haunted even his nightmares. He was however proud of every single one of them because they had played their part in grand scheme of things.

Salek lived in the underworld even though he on occasion took to being the guide for light beings and lived on the surface. He knew that with the rigid way the whitelighters saw the world, they would never be able to accept someone like him. Furthermore, there was nobody up there that he remembered. While the darklighters were not that much better, they never refused his help. When he didn't have a charge, he helped the next generation of darklighters get ready for battle.

He had not been called to take a charge on for almost a century when he felt the tell tale signs that told him that he had a new charge. He did not get charges in the classical way that whitelighters and darklighters got them. When he had been a whitelighter he had heard his charges as beautiful chimes in the wind. When he had been a dark lighter he had felt their anger and hate. Now, he had to look for his charges as they came like a whisper in the wind. There was no wind in the underworld so the sensation when it happened was strange to him.

But he knew he had a new charge and he was out looking for him, her or it. The call brought him to a market place deep in the midlands as they were called. This city was one of many bursting with life under the European Plateau and also happened to be one of the darker ones that existed. You could find the scum of the world in this city. Any creature that was brought up in this city was bound to be slightly, if not totally, evil.

He wandered through the market place knowing that his charge was here, he was certain that it was a boy. He found him several minutes later standing a few paces behind a warlock with his head down. One look at the boy and Salek was cursing the powers that be. The boy was not only young, maybe 10 years of age, but he was a slave! Salek had been hoping for someone he would guide and not have to raise. He had hoped that the child had a place to belong to so he could drop in on the boy once in a while, offer a few words of advice and then go back to his own life.

Now he couldn't let the boy be a slave, he would have to get the boy out this situation and find a place to, or someone to, raise him. Immediately he began thinking of ideas and scenarios, but realized he first needed more information.

After calling a contact that could get information, he had all the primary information about the boy in less than two hours. The boy was 10 standard years old, human and a raised slave (on his fourth master) which meant that he had been a slave all his life and hadn't come to being a slave through war or debt. This made things a bit more difficult as he wouldn't remember his life before being a slave.

But the boy had powerful Wiccan abilities and so much potential that was wasting away in his current lifestyle.

Armed with enough knowledge to work with, Salek set out to meet his new charge.

_Edited: July 13th, 2010._


	6. Chapter 6

It had been easy to defeat the warlock that owned the boy. Now, just after four hours of first seeing the boy, Salek was sitting in the now deceased warlock's lair. He was lounging on one of the chairs and he had thrown one of his legs over the seat's armrest and was looking at the boy who was kneeling in front of him. The boy had not made one attempt to look up from the floor. The fact that his master had been vanquished probably meant very little to the boy, slaves were used to changing masters and really didn't care. Salek knew that he had his work cut out for him, the boy would not jump up and rejoice just because Salek would tell him he was free. He probably didn't even know what 'free' meant. Besides, he was ten years old and in need of care. He braved a question.

"Do you like being a slave?"

"Anything my master likes," came the automatic, immediate and expected response. Now to see if there was any intelligence left in the boy.

"I did not ask you what I liked. I want to know what you like. And boy, believe me, I will know if you are lying," Salek said as he observed the child's body language carefully.

The boy was confused; no one had ever assumed he had an opinion. He was not supposed to have feelings or thoughts to himself. He just existed to please his master, who was currently the man before him. He had yet to take a look at his new master. Sometimes it took weeks before he had a glimpse at what his master might look like… but this one sounded different than anyone the boy knew. And now his master wanted him to speak and he didn't know what to say, did he like being a slave? He didn't know, he didn't know anything else but being a slave but he knew there were other positions in life than that of a slave but he was not supposed to strive for anything else. Was he even capable of anything else? He knew with certainty that he did not enjoy doing most of the things his masters had asked of him.

Salek gave the boy time to think and come to a decision. Thinking was good and meant that there was at least some life inside this boy. On some conscious level he knew that the boy must possess some… otherwise he would not have been called.

After about ten minutes came the quiet and shameful answer, "no master".

The boy was probably expecting to be beaten after telling his master that he did not enjoy the life of a slave. Salek smiled which the boy looking at the floor missed, he could work with this.

Now was time to see what the child could do, "Can you kill?" he asked. The answer to this question came quick and with certainty.

"Yes master."

"Good," said Salek as he got up of his chair and moved towards the boy, "in a minute I will remove the collar that is around your neck that identifies you as a slave of the underworld. Normally if you remove the collar yourself an alarm will go off in the archive room of the slaver who first claimed you. Your name will be removed from the list as you claim freedom."

He gave the boy a minute to digest this information before he continued, "now if anyone else removes the collar a different kind of alarm will go off and a number of demons will show up to investigate. The first round will be lower level demons that work for whoever is your prime owner, if they do not return then higher level demons will show up—lower in number but more powerful. Should they not return then mercenaries of power will come and finally the slaver himself will arrive. Do you know why they would all show up?" he asked the boy as he moved around him. He could tell the boy was listening to him and following his movement and taking in everything he said, Salek was pleased, he hated working with those that had a low intelligence.

He wasn't really expecting an answer so he continued, "it is not good for business if they let people remove the collars, and they will show up to take a look. When they show up I expect you to take care of the problem and that means I want you to get rid them of them."

"Yes master," said the boy and then he seemed to consider something but seemed to be reluctant to ask.

"Yes?" said Salek he was after all good at reading people.

"May I rise off of the floor, master?" asked the boy. Salek gave him points, you never started a fight at a disadvantage if you could help it and being on your knees was one such disadvantage.

"You may do whatever is necessary to get the task done," said Salek basically giving the boy permission to do anything in the coming fight.

The boy gracefully rose to his feet still looking to the floor but Salek could see he was gearing up for a battle. Salek could see the bent knees and the tense shoulders, and Salek was momentarily surprised when athames appeared in his hands, not bad for a ten year old. Salek reached over and grabbed the collar with two hands, said a few words in magic, after all in three thousand years you tended to pick up a few things, and ripped the collar of the boy's throat. He could see the extensive bruising that was around the tender flesh and the boy took a deep breath probably for the first time since the collar went on, the collars were never on for comfort and were supposed to magically enlarge but they were made with the cheapest magic so not all of them worked. Salek had seen slaves die in time because of ill fitted collars. He saw that the boy had an extremely strong will as he did not reach up to massage his throat.

Salek walked to a corner of the lair and stood back to watch. He did not expect the boy to get to the second round. He was going to step in and demand to speak to the slaver when they had overpowered the boy and get the slaver to release the child. He could be demanding when he wanted to be. What he saw shocked him to the core, which was rare. After all, after a long life you tended to see most things.

The ten year old, a half-starved slave boy, took out the nine lower demons that came in easily and then the six slightly higher leveled ones. It took him a while to overpower the three upper level demons that showed up afterwards but he did it. Salek was very impressed. Then Coltac himself showed up. Salek almost groaned out loud. Coltac was one of the greediest people that lived on this planet and he was not surprised that he was involved.

The boy looked over at him asking for permission and Salek couldn't help but notice that the boy had the most incredible green eyes before inclining his head for the go ahead. A world without Coltac would definitely be a better one. He wasn't really expecting the boy to win but after an impressive battle the boy got the upper hand. This boy probably hadn't even come into all of his powers yet. The thought that the child was about to kill the only person who could tell him who the boy really was just briefly crossed Salek's mind, after all, he really did not care who the boy had been— just who he could become.

The boy decided to take his time in killing the slaver that imprisoned him and it took him seven hours to do it. Salek was slightly worried and knew why it was him that was assigned to the child.

A whitelighter would have been horrified when he had observed what the boy could do. He or she would have smothered the boy from now on to get him to regret what he did in order for him to find the light again. You needed to know light, goodness, kindness and love to know what you did was wrong, something the whitelighters seemed to miss on occasion.

If it was a darklighter that was assigned to the boy he or she would have been overjoyed, thinking they had found the next source and would further corrupt him every single step of the way. Both of them would find that their charge would eventually turn on them to choose the other side out of spite rather than want.

Salek knew why it was him who was called. He never cared whether his charges chose the light or the dark, the choice at the end of the day was theirs to make and no matter what happened the balance in the world would be kept. Sometimes you needed both the dark and the light to keep the balance and Salek knew he could give the boy experiences in both worlds before it was time for the boy to choose.

When the child was done Salek moved towards the boy only to find the boy fall to his knees and put his forehead to the ground. It was a sign of repenting. Salek was surprised as it was him that had told the boy to kill whoever showed up, it was also a sign that he had a long way to go with the boy.

"Come," he said and turned around and led the way out of the lair. He knew he could have just orbed the boy and himself out of there but sometimes physical movement signified that some things were over and he wanted to emphasize to the boy that this part of his life was over.

He was no longer a slave and on his way to something greater.

_Edited: July 13th, 2010._


	7. Chapter 7

Salek took the boy to a monk monastery that he was familiar with and in the past, had been a part of. The Catar Monastery was closer to the surface world than any other part of the underworld. Their incredibly large monastery was located under the Himalayan Mountains. Those who had lived in the monastery for a few centuries still found places that they had never seen before. It was also one of the places in the world that not only had physical access to, but were also in contact with, the surface world. They took their students to one of their brother monasteries that were located on the surface for a year when they were ready; to teach them about the elements such as rain and sunshine.

The main reason he picked the monastery was that they were neutral. When you entered their domain you left the battle of good versus evil at the door. You might share meals and sweat with your sworn enemy but you couldn't pick a fight. If you tried it would be the last thing you did. They also had one of the best educational programs both on the surface and the underworld. They taught each individual student at their own level and continued to teach until they had reached their own limit. Not once had a single student exhausted the information of the monastery. Many leaders of the world had their offspring there.

Life in the monastery was definitely not easy. But then again, life as a monk was never supposed to be. The trainees got very little in terms of comfort. They wore simple wool garments that were suitable for physical activity and had their heads were shaven, regardless of their gender. They were given a pallet to sleep on in the common room of their main trainer's room and fed the same nutritious blend rice and vegetables three times a day. They were told to wash everyday in the freezing waters that came from the mountains. They also helped run the monastery when they were not in training.

Their jobs included sweeping and cleaning the endless floors, cooking and taking care of the crops that grew underground. The last task in particular was difficult as they struggled to make up for the lack of sunlight through the use of artificial light. Of course the worse jobs went to the younger trainees and things got easier as you grew older as younger students took over the chores. Most of their time was taken up by training. The trainees were trained in everything from world literature to all styles of fighting including impressive magical coaching to those of magical decent. When not in training they completed an endless amount of chores, there was very little personal or free time in the first six years of training.

A child who you wished to be raised by the monastery would be given to the monastery for training around the age of six and it took a normal trainee fifteen years before they were ready to step outside the doors. The training of magical students usually took twenty to twenty-five years. When you joined the monastery at a later age it was a bit more difficult to catch up. However, Salek figured the boy was not only capable but, he would also not complain.

The trainees were then given over to the care of a master. They lived with their prime master but were under the tutorage of many. They also on occasion changed prime masters if it was believed they had learned all they could from that particular master. However, there were those that stayed with the same master for their whole stay at the monastery and adopted a more familial relationship.

Salek himself was a master at the monastery and was immediately given his own quarters and set of trainees. He was a tutor in languages. He taught the trainees any language they wished to learn from modern day Turkish to ancient demonic languages. He enrolled the boy under another master so the child could get a sense of freedom.

He knew that this was a neutral monastery, which meant there were many demons who were masters. Though he respected them, Salek knew that some of their methods of teaching could be abusive. He was determined that his little charge was not going to run into any one of them while in his stay at the monastery. He believed the boy probably had been beaten enough to last him several lifetimes. Despite his own darker nature, he had never believed in the use of force to punish students for their mistakes.

The first thing he gave the boy was a name. Since he had no idea what the boy might have been called originally he gave him the name of 'Theodoric', which meant power and ruler or 'ruler of people', if you wanted the German meaning. He figured that the boy would be powerful and may very well end up being a leader. The boy could be called 'Theo' or 'Derek' in time if he wished. He preferred to call him Derek, at least when they were in private. In the monastery he would be called 'Wylie' which meant student.

He spent the first few months teaching Derek not to fall to his knees when he entered the same room as him and to keep his head up whilst speaking. The monastery had long since implemented bowing as a sign of respect to the teachers, but Derek had to be instructed when _not_ to bow.

Derek adapted to the rest of his training at the monastery like a fish to the water. For a former slave who was given nothing and treated as though he was brainless, this was heaven. He excelled not just in fighting and magical training but also in mental tasks. It did not take the monks in the monastery too long to notice that their new 'Wylie' was exceptionally gifted and Salek knew that he had made the right choice in choosing the monastery. They called in monks that could teach Derek anything from advanced geometry to quantum physics.

He knew if Derek had been on the surface he might have been held back in order for his peers to catch up. This environment prevented that, but there were downsides. He was a bit antisocial and had difficulties socializing with his own age group. But in the end Salek believed that these experiences gave him more of a power base then anything. Over the years he watched Derek form a few strong friendships that he would likely keep for the rest of his life. He was pleased to note two of the friends he had chosen were future fighters of the light and the third friend was a demon from a strong and powerful clan.

He enjoyed teaching Derek different languages that he knew and was amazed that he could begin a new language every six months or so. Within a week the child would know what was being said to him and in a month could string together sentences to communicate. He learnt to read and write in the language after two months and became fluent in the language shortly afterwards.

Watching his magical development was also amazing, the child had powers that they had never seen in one person. He was strongest in telekinesis that was for sure and Salek was sure that it was his prime power. Training him and watching him was a joy for the monk that was assigned to him. Bruno was an upper level demon and had been bored for centuries as he had joined the fight for evil and then good before locking himself in the monastery and teaching lesser beings to use their powers for. About a century ago he had locked himself up in his own part of the monastery and refused to even teach. When he was called from his self imposed isolation to give them ideas on how to train a child he was not pleased. When he taught he taught beings at least seventeen years old or higher as they had reached a certain maturity with their magical and mental growth.

He didn't know what he would do with an eleven year old who probably still cried for his mummy. The first time he saw the boy (whom he called Theo), he was amazed by the child's battle prowess and ability to combat multiple opponents, most of whom were older than him. He had taken the boy as an apprentice and never looked back.

Salek was pleased when Bruno took over as Derek's prime trainer and he was moved into his quarters. He was the only student that Bruno had so he was able to give the boy more attention than normal trainees got which was exactly what Salek had wanted. Bruno not only taught Theo to control his telekinesis but many other of his abilities that popped up over the years such as electrokinesis, energy balls and empathy. He also honed the boy's battle senses and taught him when it was best to retreat.

Bruno felt a strong connection to the boy and throughout the years was told by other masters that he was spoiling the child by being too soft to him. However Bruno knew that Theo had nightmares, they had started after he had been with him for two years and Salek had told him it was probably the child's emotions coming to the surface as he had never been allowed to express them before. So when the child was late, or did something wrong and was apologetic, Bruno let it slide. He also spent many nights just sitting by his pallet coaxing him through nightmares, an action which Theo was still unaware of.

Derek was also an exceptional potion maker and quickly gained the title of potion master from the monk, Mille, after three years of instruction. Salek never questioned the child's potion books that had magically showed up one day. They seemed to bring the child sadness when he was looking for a particular potion in them but also reminded him of how far he had come.

When Derek was fifteen the monks decided that it was time for him to train on the surface. It was a great accomplishment for one so young and had been in the monastery for such a short time as only students that had been in the temple for at least ten years were normally taken up to the surface. Salek was proud.

He knew from the first moment that they were on the surface that Derek belonged there as he had turned his face to the wind and sun and closed his eyes in bliss. He listened to the wind and had the largest smile Salek had ever seen. Normally those that lived underground were wary of the surface's different elements. Derek on the other hand was ecstatic of being there and had stood up with his arms out and head thrown back and laughed for the first time since they had met him. They had enjoyed every moment of the year that they spent on the surface. Many nights they found that Derek would sleep outside rather then come inside.

While there they had noticed that Derek had some control over a few of the elements. That in itself was not surprising as they knew that he had some witch blood in him. Witches' powers were tied to their emotions and some extreme emotions could affect the environment around them. Therefore there were witches that had certain control over the elements because they were exposed to certain hardships in their lives. They tested the amount of control Derek had over the elements and found that he could control the wind and manipulate the air around them and had a small amount of control over water and could redirect it if he wanted. The imp never got wet when he walked in the rain if he didn't want to. However his greatest control came over fire, not surprising as they knew Derek could conjure and throw fireballs but it was beautiful to see him use it to his advantage and incorporate it into his fighting and become an extremely unpredictable fighter.

The greatest shock came to them when after six months on the surface one of the monks was trying to teach Derek magical transportation such shimmering, flaming, or apparition. The teaching included many as they didn't know which the child could do so he got training in all. It was still early for him as humans and demons didn't get this skill at least until they were seventeen but the child had proved to them capable. They were all shocked when he had orbed, in blue nevertheless.

Salek eyes had narrowed as he noted that for the first time he didn't know everything to know about his charge. Shimmering, flaming and etc were skills a magical being could learn. However, if he could orb and was not dead that meant that he had the gift since birth and that meant that he had whitelighter blood in him. There weren't many half whitelighters in existence and someone was bound to be missing his powerful charge.

After the incident Salek made a few quiet inquiries about the child. He did not want the whitelighters to learn of the child's existence as they would demand that he be handed over to. Salek was determined more than ever after knowing and loving the child for five years that the child would make his own decision on which side of the war he wished to fight and Salek would stand by him whatever the decision be. Being sent back to the Elders would prevent all of his work.

However after months of searching his sources came back empty, the closest thing they discovered was that a female whitelighter had been kidnapped by a warlock who wanted her to have his children. What happened to them was unknown. Coltac the slaver could have easily nicked one of the children or the warlock himself could have sold one of the children for money if he got that far. For the first time Salek regretted letting the child kill the slaver all those years ago without learning of the child's ancestry. However he was never known to cry over split milk and knew when, not if, fate wanted it, they would now.

_**Moon Phoenix**__– you asked for longer chapters, I hope this one was to your liking.  
__**Charmed Crazy**__– I am happy you liked the story.  
__**Olimpia**__– I have always been in favor of Chris being powerful, at least as powerful as Wyatt so we'll see how powerful he is in this story!_

_Edited: July 16th, 2010._


	8. Chapter 8

Somewhere in a place between realms, a meeting between the sides was ending. On occasion guides of the so called sides met to discuss the balance. There were twenty-one in total, seven members that represented each side; the light, the dark and the neutrals. Seven was the number chosen because when something was put to a vote no matter what the out come there would never be a tie.

Normally they tended to ignore all of the happenings in all the realms, after all, no matter what happened the balance would eventually be regained and mortals, demons and immortals alike tended to sort out their problems on most occasions. Once in a blue moon it looked like the balance would tip to one side and in those times they would step in to give a boost to the other side to even out the balance much to the grievances of the side that had to back down.

One of the topics of this particular meeting was the unknown power source that had popped up over the last few years. No oracle from any side had seen this one coming, for the first time in several millennia they were blindsided and did not know how to prepare for the coming power and the struggle it would undoubtedly bring. In the last few years the power was gaining focus and was becoming clearer but no seer or oracle had been able to identify it yet.

The Dark Elders had demanded that this power should be theirs because the light side had the Twice Blessed; this would balance out the power.

The Light Elders had argued that the darkness the Twice Blessed was to fight had been known for centuries and had already been brewing. Perhaps it was too powerful, therefore this was help coming their way. They should find this power and make sure that it was trained to aid the Twice Blessed.

The argument had gone on for hours. The only side that had stayed quiet was the neutral side and none of them had joined in a discussion for over three hundred years so nobody minded.

After hours of argument the meeting came to end when the chairman of that particular meeting called an end due to the dispute. The three chosen leaders of each side stayed back to have a chat about what had been happening.

"It is a shame that we don't even know who this power is then we might know which side it might support," said the leader for the light.

"I have heard rumors that whoever it is dwells in the underworld. I have had people searching but we haven't gotten any results for our efforts," said the Dark Elder leader.

They then both turned towards the quiet member of their little group. Nautilus, as he was called, was the leader for the neutral side for as long as anybody on the council could remember. He predated many of the leaders including the two ancient heads standing before him. He merely lifted an eyebrow at his counterpart's stares.

It was Ares, the Dark leader, who answered, "If we don't have it and Adara here doesn't have it then somehow you got to the power before any of us have."

Nautilus just stared at his counterparts for several minutes before answering them, "and there lies your problem," he said.

Adara was the leader for the Light side and was known for her endless kindness and wisdom, however she had a very short temper. "What is that supposed to mean?" She asked.

"Exactly that, both sides are talking about this power as a possession, who has it, whose should it be?"

It was Ares who answered, "And we should not? If there is an unknown power source we should claim it!"

Nautilus turned his stare on the leader of the Dark side and Ares, who had once been known as the god of war on Earth, took a step back frightened of the power. Sometimes others forgot that the neutral side drew strength from both sides and were quite the power to reckon with.

"There my brother and sister and dear friends lay both of your problems. You believe that you have the right to claim this power even without giving it a choice. You," he said, turning his powerful gaze onto Adara, "think that he should be trained to aid? Even without the consideration of what he could accomplish by himself! If I was the power in question I would join the other side out of spite!"

Both leaders were shocked. Nautilus hadn't said more than six words to them for the last six centuries! Suddenly Ares' eyes narrowed, "you know what it is?" he claimed more than questioned.

"_**It**_ is a little human boy of fifteen, and we will make sure that he grows up to be able to make his own choices and not be manipulated by any side. And gentlefolk, that may be a warning to you both," there he posed to make sure that he was being listened to, "leave the boy alone, there are already two sides to this war, you do not want to add a third side to tip the balance of all realms." And with that, he began to walk away.

Adara called after him, "you would go over to war over a fifteen year old mortal boy?"

Nautilus calmly turned back, "both sides have had a chance to claim the boy, both sides overlooked and underestimated him, now that we have claimed the child, began to train him, both of you want to see if you have a right to him? I don't think so, and I could not think of a better reason to go to war then the freedom of choice. There have been wars for less," he said neutrally before quietly disappearing like he had never been there.

Ares and Adara looked at each other; they had been best friends, lovers on occasion and enemies for over two and a half millennia. Whilst Adara smiled, Ares laughed out loud, "this should be fun!" he said before flaming out.

Adara shook her head, no matter what happened it would not be boring for the next fifty years or so. The neutral side of the war was the ignored side and on occasion they all tended to forget that the neutrals either claimed their supporters at birth or the ancient and powerful members of the community sought them out. They could be a power to reckon with if they decided to go on the offensive. With that she orbed out to see what the Elders of Earth knew since she now at least knew the boy was from Earth.

XXXXXXXXXXX

After a year on the surface Salek, Derek and Bruno went back underground to continue to live their lives and Salek was not surprised to find Derek kneeling in his rooms one night after several years. He had never really gotten out of the habit although now days he rarely indulged in it unless he was asking Salek's permission about something he thought that Salek would not be pleased about.

Salek looked over his charge; at nineteen he was lean and tall. You could see his toned muscles underneath his garments as he had been trained to be a warrior for the last nine years. Even though he had been fed well at the monastery, he never got over the almost starved look. He had intense green eyes and Salek knew that his hair would grow out to be light brown, right now he supported the shaven head that the monks preferred.

Only the masters could choose their hair styles or their choice in clothing although many opted for the monk look. Salek himself never got rid of his hair or his clothing. In the last century, he thought the guy who invented jeans should have been made a god and wore blue or black jeans. On top he usually wore a black t-shirt or shirt with a sweater or coat and boots with his hair chopped short, close to his head.

He waited a few minutes to see if Derek would speak by himself when he didn't he prompted him with a "yes, something on your mind?"

What came next really did not surprise him as he had been expecting it since they had lived on the surface. "I wish to live on the surface for a while." He definitely had picked up on his English with his slight British accent. He spoke seventeen other languages to perfection as well although, for some reason, English was his choice of language when holding a conversation.

"Do you wish to be part of the monastery or would you like to try something else?" asked Salek who had a place available for them to live in; it had been ready for the last year.

At that Derek looked up, clearly confused. Salek elaborated, "I have never meant for you to be a monk and I have told you this several times and although you could do with a few more years of training, there is no reason for you to not finish your training on the outside world."

Derek still looked confused, "I do not know how to live outside of the monastery," he said like that made the choice.

"You will learn," said Salek as he moved over to start packing. He turned to Derek who was still on his knees, "you have two days to say your farewells and pack up your belongings before we move." With that he went to his inner chamber to pack.

Two days later they had moved to an ancient but renovated house in the city of Constantinople. The city had had a new name, Istanbul, for the last six centuries but would always be Constantinople for Salek. Istanbul was in Turkey which was the closest he could be at the moment to where he was born. When he chose to live on the surface he preferred tiny towns in the mountains or the seaside of the Aegean however he knew the boy needed to meet people and get experience in the surface's lifestyle.

Istanbul was a gigantic city just as it had been since even he could remember. It had a human population of seventeen million on the surface and close to ten million demons and humans living underground making it one of the biggest cities in the world. It was busy around the clock and had a vast amount of people from all walks of life. A kid with green eyes and brown hair would not stand out in this city as the boy spoke the language like a native and the people of this city had all sorts of looks as it was a city on two continents and had been on a crossroads for centuries.

After a few weeks of showing the kids the ropes, the magical and the demon community in the city, he left Derek to his own devices and let him discover the surface world on his own. He watched as he made friends from all sorts of life and began to enjoy life. He watched in amazement and sometimes amusement when Derek was trying out new things to eat. Sometimes Salek forgot that despite his impressive intelligence and knowledge the boy had lived his early life as a slave and then a monk so he was unaware of many of life's pleasures. He knew slaves were not really fed well and the trainee monks where always fed the same thing, rice with vegetables. He laughed out loud when he introduced Derek to the greater inventions of the century; such things like hamburgers or a hot shower. Derek grew out his hair and it fell over his eyes and on occasion he chose not to shave, all things Salek let pass. He wore all sorts of modern clothing which made him look just like a normal twenty year old, Salek knew he was anything but.

As a trainee monk in the temple they were on occasion taken out on jobs; sometimes for rescuing, sometimes for destroying. Salek had watched the boy at 16 show incredible kindness to a group of children they were rescuing from a battle and two years later show no mercy in killing everyone in sight from the same rebelling village.

He still made sure that he trained but since he could orb, shimmer, flame and or appear, going to Bruno for training was left to them to figure out the schedule. He made sure that he got his mental training in but knew that the only thing that kept him ahead of the boy was his vast age and experience and Derek was closing the gap as fast as possible. He wanted Derek to sign up for some university at some point, he knew the university would not provide him with new knowledge as he probably already held doctorate leveled knowledge in his chosen areas, however the human interaction was what Salek was after.

He however was blindsided when the child ran head on into the Charmed Ones.

He should have guessed from the questions Derek was asking that something magical beyond his control was up. Derek had come to him several weeks ago with questions.

_He was reading when the boy had come up._

_"Salek, may I you ask something?"_

_"You know you can," he told the boy without looking up. He knew it was a matter of time before the boy would chose to have his own life and Salek would then fall back to being the protector and guide rather than prime caretaker._

_The boy had taken a seat in the lotus position on the floor as opposed to taking a seat on the couch across him and looked up, "when you use a magical artifact will it leave you in its debt?"_

_Salek put down the book he had been reading and looked at the boy, just what was he doing?_

_"I am hoping the magical artifact is not overly dangerous?"_

_The boy had rolled his eyes, Salek could be over protective on occasions, "it's just a book, but I can feel its power and it flicks by itself like some of those books do in the library in Telos."_

_"You are not going to be indebted to a book if that is what you asking" said Salek._

_The boy had laughed at the suggestion, "I know that! What about the people who own the book?"_

_"Do they not know that you are using it?"_

_"I don't think so, there is never anyone around when I am there."_

_"How about then asking for permission?"_

_The boy had looked a little bit guilty and then admitted "I don't know where exactly the book is. I cannot orb to it when it doesn't call me and when it does there is no one around."_

_"Then you should not be using the book," he said. Magical things that belonged to people always caused problems._

_"But it calls to me," whined his charge, he actually whined! Salek lifted an eyebrow, clearly wanting more information._

_"The first time it happened I was on my way to the library in Alexandria when I felt my orb pulled in another direction. I was ready to fight whatever redirected my orb but found myself in this attic with a book and nobody around and the book just started to flip on its own and fell open on the page that had the information that I was looking for."_

_Salek knew of magical artifacts that chose their own users and damn the consequences, "then you need to be careful and it would not hurt to find a way to ask permission from the people who actually own the book."_

_"And if I never see them to ask?"_

_"Then leave a token of your gratitude for their help," said Salek, finishing the conversation and went back to his reading._

_A few days later the conversation was back to the same topic._

_"I don't think they liked my token of gratitude," Derek said as he again took a seat on the floor._

_"What did you leave them?"_

_"A fourteen century assassin athame,"_

_Salek had laughed out loud sometimes his charge could be very naïve. "Are these people light or dark?"_

_The boy had looked at him confused and shrugged his shoulders._

_"How does the book and the place around it feel?" Salek asked._

_"Light, I guess."_

_"Well if they are light then they probably thought the athame was a threat rather than a thank you," he said still chuckling._

_The boy had an 'oh' expression on his face before getting up and leaving only to be back after a few days. "What now?"_

_"I left them a protection amulet, the air in the house is even more confused than before," said his charge._

_Salek was suddenly curious, "if no one is in the house when you are there how do you know how your tokens are received?"_

_"I can taste it in the air of the house," said the boy like that explained everything. Salek had long ago stopped asking how the boy's powers worked._

_"How about you leave the book alone?" he suggested, he really wasn't worried about the boy coming into any harm, the boy could handle himself if the situation arose and there were many that would come to his rescue should he call for help. The boy's aura and powers left many in his wake wanting to work for him and protect him regardless of the fact that the boy required no protection. But if the owners of the book were not going to like others using their book they might cause problems._

_"The book keeps pulling me," whined the boy, was it him or had the boy actually picked up whining as a trait? "When I want to go some place on occasion I find myself there and it is so much easier to look through one book rather than look through a dozen before I find what I am looking for."_

_Salek considered the problem and for a moment wondered if he should go and take a look at this book that was calling his charge but let it go, he got where he was by letting his charges be free. Derek was his first charge in a very long time that he felt parental towards and was involved with in most aspects of life. He had basically raised the boy and in the last few months, he was trying to let him go but it was difficult. The whole purpose of this expedition to the surface was so that the child could start to create a life of his own._

_"How about you leave something that is not magical," he suggested._

_"Huh?" was the response. Salek was suddenly angry, what kind of a response was that?_

_"Excuse me! Were you raised by uneducated people to give responses like that?" he hissed. He saw the boy straighten his spine and look him in the eye._

_"I am sorry sir; can you clarify what you have just said?"_

_"Better!" said Salek more softly before continuing, "you have been leaving magical tokens that might be taken as a threat or a taunt, how about a non-magical token of your appreciation?"_

_The boy considered what he was told before replying, "thank you for the suggestions and your time sir," at his response Salek gave him a look and saw the boy smile at him slightly knowing that everything was ok before getting up and leaving. He had gotten soft!_

_Salek was slightly worried about where this was going but he wanted to let it play out and see what the boy made of it._

When the summons to see the person looking though their book came from the Charmed Ones themselves, he regretted not stepping in before. He was not going to let his charge face the legendary Charmed Ones. He was also not going to go himself, the moment they saw a darklighter they would get all defensive about it and judge his charge. He called on Bruno from the monastery to help the boy out of this situation.

When the situation was solved he either considered ringing Derek's neck for getting himself into this jam or lock him up back in the monastery until he was at least thirty.

_Edited: August 24th, 2010._

_Thanks for dropping me a note to let me know what you think so far._


	9. Chapter 9

The Charmed Ones were worried. They knew that someone was getting in the house and using the 'Book of Shadows'. Over the last few years the book had become temperamental; it didn't let anyone outside of the family touch it even if they were good witches and sometimes the family members got a shock as well.

After the attack on the manor that cost them Chris, Piper had also become high strung and obsessive. She created wards for the whole house that let no one shimmer, flame or in any way magically appear in the house. It didn't even let whitelighters orb in. She had to adjust the wards to let Wyatt, Paige and Henry (who was the only child of Paige's to have the trait) through the wards so they could orb in and out. However, for the last eighteen years it let no one in much to the annoyance of the Elders who constantly told Piper to drop the wards.

Magical beings couldn't even enter the house physically before someone who lived in the house invited them in. On this Piper had looked into the magical spells that kept vampires out of residences and adjusted them to keep everyone with magic out except family and they had to be invited in. A bit obsessive, but the family let her have her way; she had never really recovered from losing her youngest son.

So when they found out that someone was coming in and using the book they were very worried. Their worry doubled after they were left a threatening athame as a sign that the person or demon could come and go as it pleased. Then a taunting protection amulet was left behind just telling them they couldn't protect themselves.

They wondered if they should leave someone in the house to always keep a watch but they never let magic rule their lives so they tried to go on with their lives but were always on edge. When freshly picked granny smith apples followed by a plate of cookies had been left behind they were confused, what exactly was the message behind these? Always watch what you ate? Everyone was jumpy.

Paige was after a demon that was bothering one of her charges, she orbed into the attic intent at looking at the book and leaving. What she came face to face shocked her to her very being. Standing before the book was someone she had not seen in twenty years and never thought would see again. Chris was standing a step away from the book and obviously telekinetically flipping though its pages like he used to do all those years ago. For a moment their eyes met and she saw the surprise he had in his before he actually disappeared into thin air before she could say anything, she was frozen in place.

When she came to her senses the demon she was tracking was forgotten as she fanatically orbed to her sisters and brother-in-law and grabbed them without saying anything and brought them back to the house.

"Paige! What the heck do you think you are doing?" asked Piper, she had been in her restaurant. "What if someone had seen you? Have you lost all sense?"

Phoebe was gearing up to join in the conversation also but Paige didn't care, "I know who is using the book!" she blurted out excited before anyone could say anything else.

Everyone just froze in place not knowing what to say.

"Who?" asked Phoebe they had all been very worried for the last few weeks about who was getting into the manor. Paige's half excited and half anxious look did not help calm their nerves.

"Chris," said Paige partly afraid and thrilled but actually bouncing in place.

You could hear a pin drop in the attic.

"Chris?" said Leo in a very quiet voice, how was it possible?

"It's not possible!" that was Piper.

"I know what I saw! He was standing just in front of the book like he used to do twenty years ago! But obviously from this time, he just looked like he used too."

"Where'd he go?" asked Phoebe actually looking around expecting to find her missing nephew to pop up from somewhere.

"He was standing there one minute and when he saw me, I don't know who was more shocked, me or him, and he just disappeared into thin air."

"People do not disappear into thin air," said Piper.

"I know what I saw!" said Paige, "and if you think about it, it all makes sense. He can get in the house obviously because he is family and he uses the book for the same reason and everything he leaves in the house makes sense too."

"Why wouldn't he just tell us he is alive?" Leo wanted to know, it wasn't that he didn't believe her but if his son was alive why was he staying away from his own family?

"I don't think he knows who we are," said Paige who had already had to time to reflect on the situation. "Just think about it, he disappeared when he was four, what is the likelihood of him remembering us?"

"Makes sense," said Phoebe buying into the idea, "but what of the threatening things he has been leaving behind?"

"I don't they were meant to be," said Paige. "First he left behind a athame, ok not so nice and we didn't like it. But then it was a protection amulet and when we didn't like that it was apples and then cookies, think about it."

Phoebe went on where she had left off, "he was saying thank you and we took them to mean he was threatening us!"

"YES!" agreed Paige.

"It's not possible," said Piper in a quiet voice. She could not believe that her son might be alive, he would be nineteen years, seven months and eleven days old today (she had been counting). She had not been able to hold him, help him for the last sixteen years. What had happened to him? Who held him when he hurt? Or dried his tears? She had to sit down.

Paige and Phoebe helped their sister to the couch in the attic; it was a shock to all of them to find out that their dead nephew alive.

"How do we find him?" asked Piper in a quiet voice.

At that her sisters took charge and tired everything they could think of from summoning magic to the call of a lost witch. After awhile they called in reinforcements from the Twice Blessed who was 21, Phoebe's oldest; Prue who was 17 and would be the next oldest Charmed One and Paige's son Henry who was 16 and was shaping up to be a powerful whitelighter. The rest of the family could wait to be told after they found Chris. They tried everything but nothing panned out.

"We tried all these things 15 years ago, if they had worked they would have worked back then," said Phoebe after six hours of spells and potions.

"Maybe we are looking at this the wrong way," said Henry, he was a quiet but a strong boy. He was also the second boy in a family of mainly females. He had two younger sisters who were known as, and would someday be, the prophesy twins. His three cousins on his Aunt Phoebe's side were the next Charmed Ones and then there was Melinda his Aunt Piper's daughter. Six of the eight in the next generation were females.

When he had everyone's attention he continued, "all of this time we have been looking for Chris, and we have never found him, something or someone is hiding him. Perhaps we should be looking for the person who was using the book."

"We haven't been able to find the person who was using the book either or else we would have caught him in the last few weeks," said Wyatt.

"I know," smiled Henry. "However, Chris has been using the book and I doubt that he came looking for it. It was probably the book that called out to him and he answered with or without the knowledge that it was the Book of Shadows."

It was Prue who had picked up the train of thought, "and even if he had noticed that it was the famous Book of Shadows; he doesn't remember us."

"Anyone would have to be a lunatic to inform the Charmed Ones that they had access to their book!" finished Phoebe, pleased with herself that she could keep up with the younger generation.

"So I was thinking along the lines of sending him a message?" suggested Henry.

"Yes!" said Prue, "we could send the message though the book's magic which obliviously has contact with Chris, so we can trick whatever magic that is hiding Chris into getting our message to him that we want to talk to him."

Suddenly everyone was excited and after some discussion they decided not to put the fact they were his family in the note just in case he didn't know. They didn't want him to find out that way. They just told him that they were the Charmed Ones and that he had been using the 'Book of Shadows' and that they wished to speak to him. They gave him a specific time to show up to talk the next day and sat back to wait.

Who and what came was not what they expected.

XXXXXXXX

"Where is he?" asked Penny, Phoebe's younger daughter who was twelve, she had never met her cousin but knew all about him and had begged to be part of this when she had found out.

Suddenly the air changed and they knew someone was coming in, earlier in the day Piper had adjusted the wards to let people in; they knew Chris could get in but they didn't want to appear threatening. When a monk appeared in their living room they were disappointed.

"You are not Chris!" accused the twice blessed.

Bruno regarded the Charmed Ones and some of their next generation. He wanted to ring Theo's neck for getting himself into this mess but he was willing to be vanquished after six centuries to protect the boy he had come to love and he would do anything for the boy.

He bowed to them, "I do not who this Chris person is but I bring you the apologies on the behalf the Catar Monastery as the boy who has been using your book is one of our students. Your book will not be disturbed again."

"We want to talk to the person who has been using the book!" said Paige.

"I am afraid that is not possible, know that he will not be disturbing your book or your house again and that we will deal with the situation and we are willing to make amends to make up for the inconvenience that this might have caused you," with that a book appeared on the table, they didn't know what it was but it looked old and powerful as they felt the power hum from it. Bruno bowed again getting ready to leave, he did not want to stay more than necessary.

"Wait!" said a desperate cry from behind him and he turned around to see the legendary elder sister of the Charmed Ones, Piper Halliwell.

"What's his name?" she asked and Bruno heard such a longing in her voice that he answered, there was no harm in them knowing the boy's name.

"Theodoric" and after a pause he added, "Derek to some and Theo to others"

"Is there any possible way that you will allow us to meet him," asked an elder man who he assumed was the husband, ex-elder and ex-whitelighter if the rumors were correct. Bruno turned to face him, he seemed to remind him of someone but Bruno couldn't put his finger on it.

"Why?" he could not help but ask.

"That is for us to know and you not to care!" that was once again the Twice Blessed.

"Then no," said Bruno, he was not letting Theo get close to this guy, "and a good day," he finished bowing again and was starting to call on his own brand of magic to get him out of the house.

"He's my son!" That stopped him in his tracks and turned around to face the eldest sister once again.

"Pardon me?"

"The boy, Theodoric you called him, he's my son," said Piper close to tears, she was not willing to lose her son once again and not when she was so close to finding him.

"That is not possible," said Bruno.

"Our son," that was the elder man again, "Christopher Perry Halliwell disappeared from our house almost sixteen years ago when he was four. We believed him to be dead until just a few days ago when Paige saw him looking though the book."

Bruno frowned; maybe losing a son had made the whole family delusional. He turned to the younger sister, "You saw the boy for what? Less than five seconds? A boy you have not seen since he was four and suddenly the whole family thinks he is the long lost dead son?"

"We can explain," said Phoebe who had been quiet till then. Bruno turned to her, folded his arms and all thoughts of coming in, delivering an apology and leaving left his mind. He was actually interested to see what they came up with to explain their bizarre behavior.

"Please do," he said gesturing with his hand before refolding it and standing there waiting for an explanation.

"Now we know that it is not possible to suddenly see a nineteen year old boy and know that it's your four year old nephew," she said, Bruno inclined his head, this much they had already established. "We know the boy is Chris because we had already met him before he was born," she said like it explained everything.

Bruno just looked at them, the younger sister picked up the tale, "About twenty years ago Chris travelled to the past to alter the follow of time in order to save the world and that is how I knew who he was." Time travel? Alter time? Save the world? That actually sounded something crazy enough that Theo could do and pull off. "Now we know he travelled from a different time line but that doesn't change the fact the person I saw yesterday was my nephew."

Bruno was curious so he asked, "just a few years ago we looked high and low for the boy's family when we found out that he had whitelighter blood, how come our search did not bring us to your door?" He knew Salek had used many sources searching just four years ago.

"We don't know," that was the eldest again, and now that Bruno knew he could see the strong family resemblance. Theo looked like his mother. "But I know I want my son," she said quietly close to tears however he could detect determination in her tone. They were not going to give up without a fight.

"Please," said the elder man who Bruno assumed was Theo's father. The eyes should have been a giveaway and Bruno now knew why the guy seemed familiar.

After thinking about it a minute Bruno came to a decision, "the last choice would not be mine to make," he saw that the Charmed Ones were getting ready to argue, he did not give them the choice to make a comment. "I will pass this startling information onto Theo's guardian who will decide what to do with it." He held up a hand to forestall any arguments. "We will not deny the child his family if your claim turns out to be true, however we will not jump into this blind with both parties getting hurt if what you say is not true."

He turned to Piper, "I could never know the agony you must feel at losing a child and being so close to claiming him back however my concern and alliance is to Theo first. I will pass the information and the last decision will be his to make. A few more days of caution might be the difference between everyone getting hurt." With that he bowed to all of the Charmed Ones. "You should expect to be contacted by a man named Salek." With that he left to deliver the startling information that their charge was not only a whitelighter but the son of a Charmed One as well.

_Edited: August 24th, 2010._

_You didn't think I was going to give up Chris that easily did you? Thx for those that reviewed and let me know what you thought!_


	10. Chapter 10

_Hello! There is an overload of information in this chapter, however it is needed for future chapters.  
One thing I have tired to do was explain the time travelling. I know there are awesome stories out there that have done a much better job then my feeble attempt however I always felt that there was something wrong with the plot of season 6. The charmed ones travelled though time and never altered the flow however Chris some how was allowed? If he could why not travell back to change time so Prue could live? There had to be a reason... and here is my reasoning... ENJOY!_

* * *

The next morning Wyatt was in the kitchen making breakfast. He now had his own apartment in the city close to the university he attended, which he was a junior in. Despite being twice blessed and powerful, academia always came as a stretch to him however his parents had insisted on a college education and he was trying his best to please them.

He had stayed the night at the manor because he knew that his parents had been devastated at finding out that their younger son was still alive. He had fond memories of his brother although he had to say they were more feelings then memories as he was very young when the incident happened however somehow he had vague memories of Chris Perry. He never told his parents about his recollection of Chris Perry not sure what it meant when he was little and when he finally did understand it he did not want to sadden them. When he was young his shield used to go up automatically when Chris Perry had come close and the reason was the feeling of power.

Chris Perry had been powerful and that meant that Chris was powerful, maybe even more powerful them himself and he was sure that he was the only one that noticed that the monk that showed up yesterday was a demon. A neutral demon apparently as they all had asked about Catar monastery afterwards but a demon nevertheless.

His Dad had been full of information about the monastery and had nothing but good things say about it. His mother's reaction was anything but;

"_Leo I don't care who or what they are, they have my son and they are going to give him back!"_

"_Piper calm down."_

"_Calm down? Calm down? These people took my son!"_

"_Honey, we don't know if they are the people who took Chris," said Phoebe trying to cool Piper down. _

"_The monk seemed pretty shocked when we told him who Chris was, I don't think they knew," contributed Paige._

"_The Catar monastery is not known for kidnapping their students," continued Leo. "They have enough people that give their children to be educated there that they don't need to kidnap their students," when he realized that everyone was listening to him he had gone on. "My guess is that Chris somehow ended up at the monastery. The monastery is known for taking in orphans, especially magical orphans," he had said as his voice got quieter as what he was saying had impacted them._

The conversation had been still continuing as Wyatt had excused himself to see to Melinda. The demon that had shown up had also mentioned that his brother was a student of theirs which meant that Chris was at least neutral if not evil. Maybe one of the reasons the book was feeling temperamental in the last few years was because of Chris.

The Book of Shadows belonged to the whole family however it resided with the one that had the greatest tie to the family magic who at the moment was his mother. It was assumed that it would go to him as he was supposed to be the twice blessed all powerful but if his brother somehow had more connection to the Halliwell magic that would mean the book would go to him and if he was evil that might be the reason why they on occasion got a shock from the book.

"Deep in thoughts?" came the question from behind him. He turned around to see his sister standing at the door of the kitchen. Melinda was 11 and a surprise for their parents. With her they had found some sort normalcy once again however Wyatt knew that she on occasion felt suffocated because the whole family was over protective of her because of what happened to Chris. She was shaping up to be a quite the witch however did not come close to the others in the power department and didn't have any whitelighter blood in her but what she lacked she made up in wisdom as she was very clever and wise beyond her years.

"Mum and Dad not up get?" she asked as she moved further into the room looking over his shoulder at what he was doing.

"Nope, take a seat and I'll give you my famous pancakes," he told her with a flash of smile. He on occasion had to take care of his sister, Piper Halliwell was a superb mum and their Dad the best however there were a few times in a year (twice to be exact) that they became absent. One was the week of Chris's birthday and Wyatt new that it had loaded memories for both his parents, not only were they remembering their lost son but also the son that had travelled back in time and died. They had lost the same child twice and blamed themselves for both.

He was never given the information on why his brother had chosen to travel back in time, just that he had saved the world but Wyatt was sure that it had something to do with him as he remembered Chris Perry hanging around him a lot. The other time that they became walking zombies was the week of Chris's disappearance and also on a few occasions when something happened that reminded them of either Chris.

These times Wyatt took over caring for his sister from seeing her feed to making sure she went to school in clean clothes and did her homework. Their parents had gotten counseling for their loss however Wyatt thought there wasn't a counselor in the world that could help them about losing a child to magic and he didn't mind helping out to take care of his sister, he would lay down his life for his little sister.

He was just putting the finishing touches on breakfast when he heard someone at the door. "Hold on a sec will you," he told his sister and orbed over to the door to answer it.

The man on the other side of the door was, the only word that described him was, dangerous. He was dressed in black pants, black t-shirt and a black leather trench coat and he seemed have a charm around his neck, he looked powerful and sure of himself.

"Wyatt Halliwell, I suppose," he said. He had a crisp British accent that spoke that he was very well educated. Wyatt's magical, moral and other wise all senses went off, this man was not all that he presented.

He narrowed his eyes, demons did not come knocking on their door at eight o'clock in the morning, "who might you be?" he asked trying not to give anything away.

"I am Salek, I believe you were expecting me."

Salek! The man that was his brother's guardian! Did he invite the dangerous man in? "Hold on one second!" he told the man before closing the door and orbing up to his parents room. His parents made double time making their way downstairs.

"Where is he?" asked his mother looking around fanatically.

"He is out on the porch,"

"What! You didn't invite him in?" asked his mother hurrying over to the door. Wyatt stepped in front of her.

"Mum," he said calmly getting her attention when she looked at him he went on, "the man on the other side of the door… for a lack of better word is powerful and maybe even evil, and we were told that he is Chris's guardian, we don't know, this could be a trap."

His mother had looked at him and for a brief second Wyatt had felt her sadness. He wasn't an empath but had a tiny power of the gift and if what he felt were only the tinniest fractions of what his mother was feeling how was she standing up right?

She had reached up and caressed his face "I know your concerns sweetheart and believe me I have them too. But he is my son, your brother and even if he turns out to be the next Source I have to know. I at least have to try, do you understand that?" she said in a soft voice before releasing him and moving over to the door to let the man in.

"Please come in," was what Wyatt heard and knew that from that moment on that their lives would be different and the battle they were involved in had just changed dynamics for all of them.

Salek walked into the famous Halliwell manor, the hearth and the soul of the light side pulsed here.

As they were walking into the room Piper gave a shout for Paige to get Phoebe and get over to them ASAP which they did even before they had moved over to the living room.

Salek was invited into the living room and he couldn't help but take in the photographs they seemed to have on display around the area. One particular drew his eye and he made his way over to it and picked it up, it was a picture of a smiling happy little boy who seemed to be happily running around somewhere in chest high grass. There was no mistaking the happy kid that was his charge.

He had been prepared for this to be a misunderstanding and even if the Charmed Ones had demanded that Derek was theirs he was going to insist on some sort of magical connector spell to tell if the child was theirs. Salek could name four spells and three potions on top of his head that would give them the connection and he knew there was more. Not to mention that they were in the 21st century, there were such things like DNA tests but looking down at the photo there was no need for any confirmation. It was the eldest Charmed One that instigated the conversation.

"Chris was always an outdoor child who loved the sun and the wind, it took a lot to just get him to come inside," said Piper Halliwell, not really surprising as Derek slept on the roof when the weather permitted, which would be always if it were left up to him but Salek dragged him inside not wanting him to catch his death.

Salek looked over at Piper Halliwell who would be Derek's mother. Derek had taken his looks after her. He didn't know how they would feel when they would come face to face with having a son that not only was undecided on which side of the war he was going to be but he was slightly grey as well.

"I don't like you," he informed her out of the blue. He was momentarily surprised at what came out of his mouth. That had not been what he had been planning to say.

"Look, we know we are not exactly on same side but that is not any reason to be hostile," said the great Leo Wyatt. He was no longer a whitelighter or an Elder however he still had the air of one.

Salek decided to elaborate, "I do not dislike you because you are the charmed ones or because you are in league with the light. I don't like you because you let your son be taken from you. You are meant to protect the innocents of this realm, how can you do that if you cannot even protect your son."

He saw the parents' rail back like they had been hit. This was not going as he had imagined, he had come here to meet them and argue that this child was not theirs and if it turned up that he was related then come to some sort of agreement on what they were going to do. But now he found himself angry on behalf of his charge that probably would not be. Derek had never once had asked about his family or inquired about who he was in the last ten years. He had just expected that this was the way life was meant to be. Salek had not realized that he was angry on behalf of Derek. He looked over at them to see how they were going to reply it was the older boy that answered for them.

"Look, you don't know anything about our family or how hard we have worked to get him back! You cannot come here and just accuse us things!"

It was Piper who had moved towards him, and although she was addressing her son her eyes locked and reminded on Salek. "It's alright Wyatt, it is something I ask every day of my life before I get up out of bed. Where did I go wrong? What could I have done differently that would have changed the situation? Have I the right or the power to help others when I could not help my son? I have even considered trying a time spell…" she trailed of and Salek picked up.

"But you found out that people no matter how powerful they might be just couldn't cast time spells. Right?"

It was the annoying twice-blessed that answered, "We have had experience with time travel spells before."

"But you learned that only certain time spells are allowed and those that would not really alter time, and no matter where you traveled time always flowed the way it was supposed to be."

At their stunned looks he continued, "The only time you would be allowed to travel back in time was if something out of the ordinary happened the first time around that was not meant to be. So destiny or whoever is in charge of this grand design actually allowed the change to be made back." He saw that he had their undivided attention. No wonder the light side was always on the brink of losing, if these people were the best that they had and they were clueless.

"You mentioned to Bruno yesterday that your son travelled back in time and therefore there must have been an event, I am sure that you know that had happened. That event should have not happened the first time around so therefore you were allowed to alter time back to its original flow. And no matter how much you want to change your son's disappearance it is not a significant change to the time line so travelling back to stop his disappearance has not been allowed."

"How do you know all this?" asked the ex-whitelighter.

Salek turned around to face him. If there was justice Derek would have been safe since he was born. If he could alter time himself would have travelled back and prevented Coltac from ever getting his hands on the boy. If it meant that he never met Derek then so be it however he knew that you needed power to cast and maintain a time spell and like he said something extra ordinary would have had to happen the first time around for it to be able to change back. Despite Derek's misfortune at a young age whoever was in charge had led Salek to Derek therefore affectively putting the time follow back to its rails by guiding Derek's future into whatever it was. If Derek was not to play a big part in the coming years then he would have been left where he was, a slave, and Salek would not have been called to guide. Salek had an inkling that he probably were to have been his guide no matter where the boy grew up but still would have preferred the boy not to experience the six years of being a slave.

He answered the ex-whitelighter question with ease, "I actually know very little considering the fact that I just found out about time travelling last night. I looked into it and found out that you need a considerable amount of power to cast the spell itself, which I am sure you yourselves have noticed as you must have travelled back and forth several times."

He saw that he had their attention, "you on the other hand have also noticed that you were not allowed to alter the time for your son's disappearance. Your only mistake was to stop looking for him." he informed them calmly.

"That's not true!" that was the younger sister, Paige, known to be spirited, "we looked for him everywhere!"

Salek actually smiled, an evil smile, "you looked for him for five months. I have known demons and evil beings that looked for their offspring for longer then you have!"

He charmed ones were silent, it was true they had stopped looking for Chris, buried his memory and had gone on with their lives. It was Phoebe who answered, "we know what we allowed to happen was inexcusable but we really believed him to be dead," she told him in a quiet voice.

"So it was you who took my brother!" said the twice-blessed all of a sudden moving towards Salek with the intent of murder in his eyes.

Various forms of 'Wyatt's' could be heard from all sides of the room and Wyatt suddenly found that he couldn't move and looked over at Salek with fear in his eyes, no one had ever been able to stop him before and this guy had not even raised a finger or uttered a word. He looked over at his mother and shouted, "How else does he know how long we looked for Chris if he was not watching!"

It was Salek who answered in a calm, quiet and angry voice, "I know because I asked around, information follows pretty easy if you know the right people. And for your information I came to know Derek when he was ten. He has been under my care since and now I know he would be considered an adult here on the surface as he is over 18 however we come from down below and there people and creatures are under their parents and guardians care until they prove that they are an adult therefore before you get any ideas you have to answer to me if you wish to see him."

"But he belongs to the surface!" said the boy's father.

"We have raised him since he was ten, I say he belongs to us!"

"Enough!" with the command came a powerful suggestion behind it as well and Salek released the twice-blessed without having any intention of doing so and everyone in the family turned around to see Melinda standing at the entrance of the living room. That was one powerful witch thought Salek. You needed serious power to affect him.

"I really don't care who thinks they have the right to my brother. I however would like the opportunity to meet him and get to know him." She then turned her eyes onto him, "if you did not have the same intent you would not be here, so why don't the adults calm down and come to an agreement of some sort." She said all this with a calm air and her attitude seemed to affect everyone in the room as tempers began to calm down. Salek noted that she had mediator magic in her, something her parents probably never realized she had. Mediators were rare, very very rare.

Salek looked over at the oldest charmed one and her husband the ex-elder with narrowed eyes. What had these two people done? No wonder that all the Elders on both sides did not want them to be married. Even though they did not encourage it half-breeds tend to pop up know and then, he himself had fathered a child once upon a time, several millennia ago and the Elders did not get into a huff and puff over half-breeds. After all Paige Matthews was a half-breed and a charmed one to boot and no one even cared. However even he had heard that the Elders did not want Leo Wyatt and Piper Halliwell to get together. It was the higher ups, whoever they were, that had allowed the marriage and now Salek could see why so many were against the union. Their oldest was the twice-blessed and their youngest apparently was the long prophesied mediator that they probably had no idea about.

That left the middle child, Derek or Christopher Perry Halliwell. How did he fit into all this and what kind of powers had these two had passed onto his charge?

Salek suddenly knew where this was going, the moment Derek met his younger sister, the side which he was to fight would be determined, he would do everything in his power to keep this one safe after all Mediators were know to affect and encourage powerful beings to follow them especially if they were family. Salek smiled mediators were known to be neutral beings, regardless to how they were raised, this might turn out better than he hoped.

A very quiet and a timid question came from his right, "Do you mind… if you know… to tell us… who took my son and where was he until he came to be in your care?" asked Piper. This was something she had been thinking about since last night. Leo and she had stayed talking about it late into the night.

It was obvious that the monk that came or the Catar monastery were not responsible for kidnapping their son. If they had been they would have known who he was and not let him near the book or if their purpose was to get the book they would not have come to apologize.

Leo had told her that the monastery was an educational center and that it was neutral and that many great leaders and fighters had been trained there; Chris would have been raised well. Piper did not care. She had wanted to raise her son. She had wanted to see that brave, handsome boy that she had met so long ago come into being. She had known that she was not around the first time around and his life had not been easy however she had wanted to do right by him but was not allowed. And the question had remained: who had taken their son and why?

Salek looked over at her. She was already in tears and Salek knew he was going to add to this woman's pain with his answer but she deserved the truth. "It was a demon named Coltac, he was a slaver," he informed them with enough calm.

Gasps could be heard all around the room, Piper found that her knees would no longer hold her and she started to fall only to be caught by the stranger that walked into their lives just minutes ago. Salek led her to the couch and sat her down others were also sitting down where they were as what he said was impacting them as well.

"Do you own him now?" asked a very calm voice.

And Salek turned around to look at the little witch, despite her young age she knew how to get to the heart of the matter. "No. He has not been a slave since the day I have met him and he would never be under the control of anyone if I could help it," he informed them taking in all of them as he spoke, making his intentions clear on where he stood with his charge. He would not allow these people to control him no matter what good intentions they had or ignoring the fact they were family.

"But he was a slave before he came to be in your care?" asked Leo, Chris was taken when he was just shy of four and Salek had mentioned that Chris had been under his care since he was ten, that let six years unaccounted for. How could he allowed this to happen to his little boy?

Salek just nodded his head. "Does he remember us?" asked Paige.

Salek would have loved to give them good news however, "the underworld has been in this business for a very long time. The slavers; they grab children at a very young age and train them. They have various methods of training that we do not need to get into. Slaves commonly have no memories of who they were, only that they are to serve." He heard a sob from the mother and saw the father move next to his wife and gather her in his arms, he didn't blame them, it was one thing to believe that you had not been able to stop your son being murdered and another thing altogether to know that you allowed him to be taken to be a slave and gave up on him.

"However with time and exposure to you, Derek might begin to recall faint memories or more likely feelings associated with you," he could not help but add giving them a little bit of hope.

After a moment of silence he continued, "Ok, this is how it is going to play out. And this is none negotiable; you either take it or leave it. Derek has been doing really well without you in his life I am sure he will continue to strive without you there." He held up a hand to forestall any arguments.

"No matter who he is, he is a student of the Catar monastery and if you would allow me, I will tell you how things are done at the monastery therefore you can get an idea of what is going to happen from now."

He saw that the family exchanged glances and there were nods all around. They did not have much choice in the matter. Salek's voice took the lecture mode he was known to have, "If you wish for a child to be trained by the monastery you give him or her to the monastery around the age six or seven and have no contact with them except for a package you are allowed once a year."

He saw that the females had looks of horror on their faces where as the ex-elder did not, he probably knew all this. "Don't look so shocked, it is not a bad experience and it is not out of place if you have been raised in this way, you of course expect your child to be raised in the same way."

"After ten years at the monastery the student and the family get to spend three days at the monastery seeing where their child had been raised and meeting all the teachers," at this he smiled as he remembered fond three day celebrations from the past. "It is somewhat of a reunion for the parents that have children of the same age who themselves have been educated at the monastery. After that comes what is know as the mingling year where the student and the family balance their time together, the student continues his or her education at the monastery however spends time with his or her family learning about his or her heritage. After the year is up it is up to the student with the guidance of his teachers and family to decide what to do with his or her life."

"The choice is either to stay at the monastery and finish their education and if they wish then to continue to become a master or go back to his or her family. Are we clear on what happens until now?" He looked onto each member to see if they had understood. "The reason I am telling you this is because if a child drops out before the mingling year is up they can never go back. If they leave after the mingling year they have the option of coming back to finish their education at a later time or better yet they can have sanctuary at the monastery whenever they wish regardless whether they have completed their training or not but if they leave before, the doors of the monastery will be forever closed to them. Now the choices are different when the child is an orphan."

His comment got the oldest charmed one to come to life, "My son is not an orphan!"

Salek looked over at Piper, "Eldest, I know it is hard to accept but your son was an orphan until just thirty-six hours therefore everything had been done accordingly."

It was Leo who stepped in, "and as you might imagine this is hard for us to accept. Also we have not yet relayed our gratitude to the Catar monastery or you, for taking in and educating our son and know that all this will take some time." Salek nodded his head accepting the thought before continuing.

"Orphans are normally expected to finish their education they are not given a choice. Whether they wish to stay at the monastery afterwards is up to them. Derek has been raised in the belief that there would be no choice to his completing the training and afterwards we know that he would not stay in the monastery. He is much too restless to become a monk." It did not go unnoticed that Salek had a smile on his face when he talked about Chris, he really cared about him. "It is the reason why he is at the moment on the surface, he is learning about his options as he does not know of them."

After a moment of gathering his thought Salek went on, "I have mentioned this before, down below a child remains with his parents and teachers until they prove that they are an adult, for the monastery this also signifies the end of their training. For a magical being this usually happens when they are around 25 years of age however Derek is proving to be unique case, he could very well complete most of the trials today if he wanted but he needs more information and experience about the world furthermore he has not even completed his ten years of education. It has been unheard of to take the trials before completing ten years plus the mingling year at the monastery. We had planned that Derek would be taking his trials within a year and a half."

He noted that the entire living room was silent. He shook his head the surface world was quite ignorant of the ways of the underworld. The demons who wished to fight the surface were thought everything however it seemed that those on the surface that were to fight the underworld were fighting blindly. How did these people managed stay alive all these years? Better yet what had the whitelighters been doing all these years? When he was a whitelighter these things had been common knowledge, things you told your charges so they had a better understanding of the enemy they were fighting but now looking over at the ex-whitelighter he knew that what he was saying was new to him as well.

"Now Derek's position at the Catar monastery has changed, I personally would like him to complete the eleven years at the monastery so that in the future should he need sanctuary the doors of the monastery would be always open to him."

Phoebe thought that this man not only made too much sense he had given them more information about the demons they had been fighting for the last 25 years then they themselves had gathered. And she believed that they were only scartching the surface of his knowledge base, she had nothing against Leo or any other whitelighter they had had over the years but she couldn't help imagine what they could have accomplished with someone like him. And thinking of Chris who wouldn't want a sanctuary, she knew she had wished for one over the years however; "What does this mean for us?" she asked.

Salek looked like he was going to part with knowledge that he did not to part with, "I have spoken about the situation to some of the other masters and the first decision is that we will tell Derek about his family. And because this is a unique situation if Derek wishes to meet you, several meetings can be arranged."

It was Wyatt who noticed the underlining meaning: _choice_, "and if does not wish to meet us? What then?"

"As every student in the Catar monastery gets to have their family over at their tenth year, for the three day celebration, you too will be expected to be there no matter what Derek feels about the situation. This year's three day celebration is coming up just under three months and Derek will be expected to attend and then take part in the mingling year that follows and what happens afterwards will be up to him to decide."

With that he looked around, "I have given you an overload of information about the situation, why don't you take some time to digest it and we can talk about what is going to happen after you have given it some thought."

It was Leo that took charge of the situation, "there would be no need to think it over the situation, we will accept all our terms,"

He was cut off with gasps all the room and he gave every single member a look that silenced them. "You will tell our son about us and I accept you to try your hardest in convincing him to agree to meet us." With that he looked into the eyes of the stranger that had walked into their lives and had so much control over them and their son. He would agree to all the conditions that the man had so they would be allowed contact with Chris, then they would see about getting him back.

Salek knew what this man was thinking and he was surprised that he agreed with him. He would do everything in his power to get Derek to agree to meet his family. He knew his charge very well however he had no idea how he was going to react to finding out not only to having a family but a powerful light side family. He decided that they needed few more ground rules before the day was out.

"I give you my word that I will do everything in my power to make Derek understand the situation should he react negatively to it. However I would like to warn you that he has been raised in a monastery that teaches both sides of the coin, he is yet an undecided, which means he has yet to make the decision on whether he wishes to be a light or dark a creature."

At that Phoebe pied up, "we know he is a good person at heart, no matter what might have happened to him you cannot change what a person is down in his core."

Salek had to give her points, Derek was a softy but he also had a darker side. "You of course would want him to be dark. You are evil!" that was once again the twice-blessed. This little boy needed a few lessons on how the world worked.

He looked over at him and his weird green eyes pierced into the boy and the boy squirmed under the ancient gaze. "I am not evil," he informed him very composed, "however I am also not good. I am one of the people who believe the world needs both to keep its balance hence your brother was brought up in the Catar monastery which I am sure you looked up and found out that it was neutral. I am determined that Derek would make his own choices when the day comes and those that have thought him would respect his decision. You as his family will do the same if you wish to be part of his life."

"You cannot expect us to not pass on our morals onto him," said Leo.

"I don't expect you not to tell him about your side or try to coax him to the light. I however will draw the line if you criticize him on his choices and the things he has done."

"Now wait a minute…" said Paige, Salek held up a hand to forestall her.

"I am older and more experienced in this then you are. I have seen people and creatures chose sides because they have been cornered by their families and loved ones and become angry enough at their loved ones to switch sides because of hurt feelings and then live with regret for the rest of their lives because of their choices." He saw that they were hanging onto every word he was saying and went on.

"I consider Derek to be my own and I would do everything in my power that he makes choices with an open mind and not have regrets down the line."

All of the Halliwell's noticed that this man standing in their living room was not all he presented to be. They all however agreed that he seemed to have their son's best interest at heath and decided to work with him as he seemed to be in the way for them to see their son.


	11. Chapter 11

_**Authors Notes:**_

_You are welcome to read the notes or do as I do most of the time do skip them and read the story!_

_**Note 1:**__ Thank you all those that have written to tell me that they are enjoying the story and suggestions for making it better. Several people have said that they enjoy dialog more than narrative and I will try to provide more dialogs however I have to say I am new to the writing thing and narrative comes easier then dialog._

_**Note 2:**__ I was not aware that there was so much dislike for Wyatt's and Chris's little sister Melinda. I was under the impression that she was part of the canon and you couldn't leave her out and even though this story is an AU I wanted many of the concepts to be there. For those that are worried don't be, this is a story that will mainly (99%) focus on Chris and we'll see about his interaction with others - meaning I have not thought that far ahead. I know Wyatt will play a major role but for the supporting roles I have not decided. This story gets written when it comes._

_OK, enough rambling without further ado on with the story!_

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Chapter 11**

Derek was enjoying an afternoon in the city of Capa. Capa was an underworld city under the underground cities of Cappadocia located in Turkey. It was surprising that the surface world had actually found some of the underground cities of the underworld and he knew that there were a bunch of beings from Capa involved with keeping the so called archeologists away from discovering the real entrances to the underworld.

There had been several fake earthquakes in the last few years making the many of the archeological sites unsafe to excavate which Derek thought was the point. There had been excursions by the surface dwellers into the tunnels and enough tunnels had been collapsed in the last few years then there apparently had been in the last millennia.

This place was one of the twelve that had a physical connection to the surface world and the officials of Capa were reluctant to give away their connection to the surface world.

Derek's good friend Lara lived here. It was surprising to find out that she was a Capain. In the underworld you were from whichever city you were born in or chose to live in, there was no concept of countries and the educated spoke the language of the surface world that they lived under just in case. But growing up in the monastery you gave up all you were and learned what they thought you and they all spoke to each other in Latmik a demonic language that belonged to the monastery. Lara was four years older than Derek and she had opted to rejoin her family after her mingling year, it was surprising how little they knew of each other outside of the monastery. Now that Derek was living on the surface he was free to go anywhere he wanted and he had tracked down Lara to her home city and they were known to spend quite a bit of time together. Although he had a feeling his freedom was going to be cut down to almost nothing when Salek returned from seeing the Charmed Ones.

Derek had escaped to Capa after receiving the letter from the Charmed Ones. If you were educated you knew who they were and you also knew who Wyatt Halliwell was meant to be. Camelot was one of the strongest cities of light magic there was, along with Avalon. Camelot was the only known surface city that had cut contact with everything and was hidden with the strongest magics. Avalon was its connection to the surface and the underworld, being half on the surface and the other half down below. Although Avalon had also cut the contact to a minimum for almost two millenniums ago, there was on occasion news from both cities by travelers who had gained access to Avalon.

The fact that Camelot's legendary sword had resurfaced and was with their next king who was supposed to be the twice blessed Wyatt Halliwell was common knowledge to most of the underworld.

Many said these were the signs that a great swift was coming. If Camelot was rejoining the world that meant the balance would swift. The past Kings of Camelot were known to unite many beings or cities, hence the round table of knights. It wasn't just knights that sat around the table, while they were known as the knights they were actually beings of immense power and with them came their own followers, sometimes their cities, sometimes thousands of their warriors followed them. When united the power of Camelot was enough to shape the world. Many were afraid of the change that was coming. Salek had told him that change was unstoppable it would happen whether people wanted it or not so the best thing was not to worry about it.

However many in the underworld were worried about the meaning that was behind Camelot's rejoining the world although it had yet to happen. There were whispers and rumors of powerful beings that were coming into being. One rumor stood out in particular about an unknown power source and whenever Derek popped up a new power all those around him would look at him funny, like he was supposed to be this powerful being that all the rumors were about. Derek knew that was not the truth, if it were the case would he have spent his early life as a slave? If he was all so powerful wouldn't he have been able to escape or break the collar right away?

Slavers were known to pick up mediocre magical beings. There were two reasons for that; one, mediocre magic users would not be noticed among hundreds of other slaves, two, powerful beings tended to have powerful parents and they were known to come after their offspring. No one had come after Derek or maybe his family had even sold him off for a few coins to the slaver in the first place. If he were powerful wouldn't they wanted to have kept him instead of sold him off?

Sometimes Derek wanted to find his family so he could just ask the question; why? What was so wrong with him that they did not want him? But Salek told him to live in the present and he tired but he wanted to know, was that so wrong? He knew Salek had looked into his family especially after they found out that he was part whitelighter which meant that either his mother or father was an angel. One of them was from up there. A world that was not available to him. He was a creature of the underworld and on most days proud to be. What would his father or mother think of him when they found out that their son could kill someone without blinking or torture them for hours for information?

Or maybe they had already seen the darkness in him and that is why they had decided to get rid of him, they couldn't bring themselves to kill him so they decided that he could be of use, of less danger if he spent his life as a slave in the underworld away from the heavens. He wanted so much to remember what they were like. He wanted to know, it was one of the reasons that he had gone for that book even when he knew he should not. It had felt so right just touching it. It had sung to him, he knew that the book belonged to him. It was his.

But now he was afraid of finding out how he was connected to it.

Bruno had been unsettled when he had been back and Derek had seen him looking at him in a really weird way as he was seeing him for the first time. He had asked that he speak with Salek alone and that he make himself scarce for a while. When he had looked at Salek for conformation he was told to go visit some friends for a few days and that he would come for him.

Derek had a bad feeling about this. He knew what he had done was not wrong however he knew that he had been trespassing but it was not something to get in a fight about. He wanted to know what was going on but he trusted Salek and would wait until he was told. He entertained the idea of going to see the Charmed Ones himself but for only a second, Salek and Bruno could be frightening when angry although throughout the years neither had ever laid a hand on Derek and they had been more than kind to him, he did not forget that they could.

He had seen enough students in the monastery who had very stick masters and that they suffered the consequences of their actions and he did not want to be in those positions no matter what the cost.

Therefore he had come to visit Lara; she came from the governing family of the city of Capa and had an upper level demon for a mother and a wood nymph for the other mother and yes she had two mothers. Derek was given the explanation on how it was however did not want to think about it. It made him stare and wonder every time he looked at her mothers and he blushed whenever he was thinking about it, they were both unearthly beautiful also making Lara beautiful too but that was something Derek never noticed having grown up in the monastery with the same clothes and the shaven heads.

After coming to the surface he had visited with her and had an open invitation to stay at their house which he was taking advantage of. Lara spoke Turkish and she and Derek had dressed and pretended to the surface tourists and explored and joined in with all the tourists of the above ground.

They had spent and enjoyable afternoon laughing as they visited each underground city and listened to the guide explain what each thing was. It was funny how wrong these people were. They were eating ice-cream and looking over the beautiful landscape that the guide was telling them about when Derek felt Salek coming. He looked around and spotted him walking through the tourists like he belonged there. It was amazing that Salek could blend in so easily, one would ever think that he was so ancient or had so much power just by looking at him. He was wearing blue jeans and a blue t-shirt and looked like he was an ordinary twenty something college student out for a walk. It was only when you looked into his eyes that you knew you were looking at someone who was not mortal.

He came up to them and sat down like he had no bones on to the bench they were sitting on. He had told Derek that he wanted to teach a course on spreading one's self over various pieces of furniture but was asked by the other masters what was the point. Derek was never sure what Salek was on about, one minute he would be talking about Napoleon and the importance of strategy in a battle next he could be explaining the right way of cooking a duck in ancient Roman times.

After a minute off all of them staring at the landscape Salek raised his eyes to Lara and said, "could you possibility give us some time? And I don't think Derek will be returning to Capa so whatever he may have, needs to be returned home."

Lara was not going to argue with a Salek of all people, "yes master," was all she said, gave Derek a smile and a look that said tell me everything later and got up and gave a little bow to Salek and left to find some place that she could shimmer down to the underworld.

It was a while before Salek spoke, "we have found out the reason you were drawn to the Book of Shadows as well as the reason the Charmed Ones insistence on meeting you."

Derek never even turned to look at Salek just continued to stare out at the landscape. After a minute Salek went on, "Piper Halliwell and Leo Wyatt have been married for a while and they are supposed to have three children."

Derek picked up the meaning behind words without turning to look at Salek, "supposed to have three children?" he did not like where this was going.

"They have an older son; the twice blessed child you have heard about, and their youngest a girl who is by far an old soul and an annoying one at that." There he stopped to smile a little; the girl's parents had no idea what they would have to put up with raising that one, he sobered up and continued,

"And once upon a time they had a middle child, a son that they believed to have died in a demon attack almost sixteen years ago." And there Salek stopped; Derek was smart enough to put two and two together and know what he was trying to tell him.

There was no easy way to break this to Derek and no matter how he phrased it Derek would still be hurt in the process.

Derek turned to look at him, "died in a demon attack?"

"His room was totally destroyed however the Charmed Ones themselves searched for a while even as everyone told them that the child was dead. You see he fell of the magical detection grids and could not be found. And the only way for that to happen is if the person is dead."

"And now they think…" Derek let the rest of the sentence hang off knowing that Salek would answer the unasked questions.

"Not only do they think, they know that you are their middle child. I was a little reluctant to believe it myself however when someone knows you," at that Salek turned around fully to face Derek and went on, "and meets them, the resemblance is uncanny. Add to that the fact that the fame Book of Shadows cannot be used by anyone other than family and presto you have the missing Halliwell child."

He waited a beat to let that one sink in and then, "although there are magical and mortal ways of making sure if you would wish for a confirmation," he added.

Derek was looking at Salek in disbelief, what he was saying could not possible. The Halliwells were the strongest light magical beings of this century, a demon slaver; even the most crazy daring demon slaver would be out of his mind to go after one of their progeny. They would not lose a child that easily.

"You are thinking that they are powerful and anyone would be crazy to attack them," Salek seemed to be reading his mind, "however they were not always this powerful and I have told you everything happens for a reason. The Halliwell line is powerful however it has been in the last fifteen years or so that they became unmessable. Before that demons took a shot at them every other week to get the glory of killing a Charmed One and suddenly after a tragic situation they found a reason to be more resourceful and powerful."

Derek was listening to Salek as if in a trance. "The magical community has never been told of the great tragedy or what had befallen them, however we knew that there was something." Salek smiled a tiny bitter smile, "if they were not this secretive perhaps we would have found out who you were when we figured out that you were part whitelighter."

"Not when I killed Coltac?" asked Derek out of the blue. Salek was momentarily surprised he was not sure if Derek ever had made that connection. Salek really thought about it before giving his charge an answer.

"No. If I was to find you and take you back to your family it would have been someone else that would have come for you."

"Really you would not have been tempted to take me back?" Salek turned to look at his son. Over the millennia's he had many charges and raised a number of children as well, he believed creatures whether they were good or evil had in their hearts a place to love and he loved this boy with all his heart. True the love didn't happen like it would happen with a parent but had gradually grown but that did not mean it was not as pure as a fathers.

"No," he said with clarity, "although I would have then raised you in the knowledge of who you were and what your heritage was just like those that know who they are at the monastery. So…" with that he reached over to grab Derek around the neck in a head lock, "when you were drawn in by the Book of Shadows you would have made the conscious choice of going there instead of the blind one you have been forced to make." His actions made Derek smile despite the circumstance.

Salek released Derek and once again became serious and he grabbed Derek by sides of his face so he could look directly into his eyes. "I swear to you that I would do everything in my power so when you have to make a choice you are aware of all your other choices and what their consequences would be."

Derek could feel the power behind the stare that was aimed his way as well as the power behind the words that were being spoken to him. He knew no matter what he choose, what he decided to do about this new and strange situation he found himself in, he would always have Salek's support. However he needed sometime by himself to sort through his thoughts, feelings and choices.

"I think I need to be by myself for a while," he informed Salek and Salek released him turned his attention to the landscape and was nodding his head.

"Take as much time as you want, I will be at home when you are ready to deal with this, I am not going anywhere. I paid good money for that house; damned I would be if I did not get at least a lifetime's worth back!"

Derek gave a slight smile to Salek's comment and got up to stare at the beautiful landscape that was laid below his feet, an hour ago his life seemed simple, alas he had no idea what he was going to with it but everything was in its place. He was to complete his education, goof of as many of his friends did and then decide what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. Now he suddenly found himself in turbulent ocean waters not knowing what to do. He knew there were a lot of people he could trust and would be willing to help him but he needed to figure out what he wanted at least for the foreseeable future for himself before he did something about it.

With a nod to Salek he made his way to the public toilets. They were the best place to magically disappear from as not many people really paid attention to those that went in and out. Perhaps there was a reason why he chose to shimmer out rather than orb out even though orbing had always been rather easy like breathing but he would dwell on those thoughts after finding Marcus and getting drunk got out his mind and killing something, anything!

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_Well here it is I know it is not long but for this story I want majority of the scenes to belong to different chapters_.

_If anyone was wondering "Cappadocia" actually exists and it is an amazing place, part of the world heritage and so on. Actual cities underground from 2000, 3000 years ago. As big as having 5000, 6000 people living in them and going down 8 floors, like huge apartment complexes under the ground. I was visiting them when the inspiration of Chris growing in the underworld hit and I could not but help add the real inspiration to the story. And the fact about earthquakes and tunnels collapsing is true. Apparently there are many cities in the area, they have found 40 of them and you can visit 3 of them, they are rumored to have tunnels that connect all of them under the ground but can't be travelled through because they are either collapsed or don't have oxygen._

_The next chapter is on the way! The Halliwell's finally meeting their lost son. I have to say I had many of it written and over rode the file with an older version by mistake therefore losing some of the scenes. I have to rewrite them so the next update should be coming in two weeks. Hopefully!_


	12. Chapter 12

_Greetings all!  
I found my files! They weren't lost after all! Most of this chapter was already written and the rest of the story I have to write and in the next two weeks school will be closing and as I am a teacher there are tons of things to do which I have not done as this story beg to be written. There will be more updates once I go on summer vacation._

_I am nervous about this chapter! Many had been looking forward to it. When I started to write this story it was for myself but over the last few weeks the people who have written to tell me what they thought have become important for me. Tina, Daniella, Jane, Anika, Weiliya and Star Mage 1, who has reviewed every chapter, thank you. I hope you like this next installment!_

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Salek and Derek were standing in front of the Halliwell manor ten days later. After the confession Derek had disappeared for four days only to return to Bruno's. Both of them did not ask where he had been or what he had done.

After two days with Bruno he had returned home, the first thing he had asked of Salek on his return was his name and he had repeated the name 'Christopher Perry Halliwell' under his breath several times. Salek wondered if the boy was trying it out to see if he remembered anything about the name or see if it fit.

He had told the boy that his family would like to meet him and after a few days Derek had agreed, Salek had let the Halliwell's know as they had been expecting an answer every day and they were invited over for dinner. Actually it was only Derek who was invited but the boy had informed him that he did not wish to go alone and he in return had informed the family that he would be accompanying the boy.

Whereas they found themselves standing in front of the door, Derek had managed to get a haircut and brush his hair and shave. Salek was pleased, he never liked the rugged looked that Derek seemed to support lately. He was also dressed nice for the occasion in new beige pants and a light blue shirt which Salek figured out that Mille the potion mistress at the monastery had picked out. She was known to know what to dress like and what the right etiquette should be. Salek figured out that the flowers Derek had was her idea as well.

He rolled his eyes without being oblivious to Derek, some beings of this world might be demons, as Mille was a demon with a few centuries under her belt however she knew more about mortals of the surface than they probably did themselves. He looked over at his charge.

"Ready?" he asked and got a tiny nod in response before reaching over and ringing the doorbell.

The door opened immediately by Leo Wyatt who was in all probability standing behind it and waiting even though they were at least twenty minutes early. His eyes went over his son almost with a hungry feel which Salek could not blame the man for. After a moment he seemed to have gathered his resolve and said, "Please come in."

As they entered the foyer Leo held out his hand to his son, knowing it was too early for a hug, but he wanted to reach over and grab the child and never let him go. "I am Leo Wyatt," he told the boy unnecessarily, the rest of the sentence 'I am also your father' was left out but everyone heard it loud and clear.

Derek took the man's hand and answered with uncertainly, "Theodoric…. or Christopher apparently…. whichever you want."

Leo smiled at his son trying to put him at ease, "actually whichever you prefer is better for me. Do you prefer Theo or Derek." He posed for a second before continuing, "or do you like Theodoric?" he asked also uncertain.

"Actually…" Derek began but seemed to reconsider what he was going to say and went on, "no one ever calls me Theodoric," with that he threw a glance at Salek and smiled a little smile, "I prefer Derek if you don't mind."

"Derek it is then," said Leo as he led them into the living room. They had decided that it might be too much if Chris were to meet the whole family at one go. After all the Halliwell clan tended to be fifteen people with everybody in attendance so it was decided that his immediate family would be the first to meet him which meant his mother, father and two siblings.

They found Wyatt and Melinda in the living room and the two brothers shared a handshake as well, the moment Derek shock hands with the twice-blessed one he felt his entire being sing with pleasure. It was just like what had happened with the book but only at a more intense level. It was like meeting someone you knew all life and a part of you that was always there but you never knew about it. With a surprise he looked over at the elder Halliwell and noticed that the elder boy had the same shocked look. He was the first one to break of the physical contact and Wyatt gave him a smile and Derek knew that they might have lost physical contact but they had not lost the connection. This was something he would examine later.

Melinda looked at Chris for a moment before stepping up and engulfing him into a hug. Derek was surprised to say the least, he hadn't known what he was expecting but this little girl with an impish smile was not it. He for some unexplainable reason wanted to protect this girl he meet for the first time and wondered if it was magical like what had happened with the twice-blessed or if older brothers automatically felt the need to protect their younger siblings. After a moment she drew back and said, "Nice to meet you brother," before turning her eyes onto Salek and welcoming him to their house once again.

At that moment Piper Halliwell came into the room. She had been dreading this moment, how to explain to your child that you lost them? She took in the living room and the all together too thin boy standing in her living room.

And there stood her son, the son she had lost so long ago believing he was dead because of her arrogance and the need to protect the older one. He looked just like _he did_ just a little younger and thinner perhaps than when he had met him. She didn't know if he would ever forgive her.

Derek on the other hand was an empath. He had been trained in his powers since they had popped up seven years ago, he knew how to block out other peoples' feelings. He had also taken an empath blocking potion made for empaths that Millie had made just for him before coming here. She had informed him that strong emotions could set off different feelings and he had to be aware of what his own feelings were on this occasion and he didn't need to be battling other peoples as well. However the two adults in the room where projecting such powerful emotions that they were getting through not only the potion but the blocks he had up.

He felt regret and a great lost from the man who was supposed to be his father and of course there was love, lots of lots of love. However the woman before him was projecting such a powerful self hate along with an overwhelming feeling of love that was vaguely familiar that Derek found it hard to breathe. He very carefully moved towards her and stood before her. He noted that he may look like her but his height must have come from his father because he towered over her. She had to look up to see him he gave her a smile and said, "Hi," in a tiny voice.

At hearing him talk to her broke the resolve Piper had at not crying. She had done more than enough in the last twelve days since she had found out that her son was not dead but lived through hell all because of her. As she started to cry she found that she was engulfed in familiar get foreign arms as her son wrapped his arms around her to ground her. She reached her arms around him like she had done before his past self was supposed to have gone to the future and grabbed his shirt in her fists and held on never wanting to let him go.

After about five minutes no one saying anything she felt the need to pull away and she let go of her son reluctantly. When she pulled away he gave her a shy little smile and held out the flowers, "these are for you… a friend picked them out… I wasn't quite sure…" a little cough behind him had him looking over his shoulder to see that Salek had a stern looking face and with that everyone in the living room saw Derek pull himself up and a confidence that he did not project come over him. When he spoke next they were instantly greeted with a young man that was sure of himself and well educated.

"Thank you for having us over, these are for you," with that he handed over an elegant buke of wild flowers to his mother.

"Thank you, they are beautiful," was all Piper could manage before suddenly announcing that they should move to the dining room and eat. Derek was confused as why they would be sitting down to eat so early but held his tongue. These people did not yet know him, it would not be a good idea to let them know that he usually had an opinion about everything. Marcus had told him on occasions that he was too opinionated anyway.

He had to hold in his look of shock when he saw the dining room table. It looked like at last fifty people would be dining with them that night, there was that much food on the table. He was not sure who was supposed to eat it all.

What he didn't know was that when Piper was nervous and she tended to either cook or make potions and the whole family had enough potions to last them for the whole of next year as she had been making potions none stop for the last twelve days. And when she had been informed yesterday that her son was coming for dinner she couldn't sleep and cooked through the night. She had no idea what Derek liked. She knew what the Chris from the future (or was it the past now?) had liked and she had made everything that he had shown a likeness to as well as her best dishes and several other ones which she thought he might enjoy.

Piper moved everyone to the dinner table. It was really weird having someone who was essentially a stranger and for them to be your son. It was difficult especially for her and Leo as they had already known Chris around this age. She had expected him to act just like that Chris and while she could see his core personally was still there, there was a vast difference between Derek and Chris from the past.

Derek found himself seated next to the twice-blessed, he figured it would be a while before he called him older brother and across from him was the imp, as he had instantly named the younger girl. He just hoped that it did not pop out of his mouth and he embarrassed himself and her. Next to her Salek had settled down and the table was completed with the elder Charmed One on his right and her husband on the other head of the table.

Derek wondered if all his friends felt this awkward when re-meeting their families. After all you came to the monastery when you where six and stayed there at least fifteen years and more if you were magical and then you had to spend time with your family like nothing had happened. Although many in the monastery knew of their families and got one care package a year with letters and stuff, Marcus was always good at sharing his sweets when they arrived every year like clockwork.

Suddenly he found out that someone was asking him a question. He turned around to face the woman who was supposed to be his mother and focused his attention on the food she was handing out and explaining, he took a bit of everything and was determined to eat them even if he did not like them, he could still feel her and she was very very anxious and wanted to make a good impression. How to tell her that he was easy to please when it came to food? When you were deprived of variety and food all your early life you tended to think anything that had a source on it was made in heaven.

He needed to get Millie to make a stronger blocking potion if he was going spend time with these people; they were banging on his blocks and slipping though with their feelings of love and anxiousness.

He decided that maybe he should open up a conversation, after all wasn't it Salek who always told him that you needed an opinion in everything to be able to join in a conversation and then lead it any way you wanted it to go. "Thank you, these are all very delicious, I don't think I have never had a better baked ziti before. And my friend and I have gone to Italy to sample this dish and you would make the chefs over there cry."

He could feel her joy at the simple compliment and made a note to himself to tell her his favorites as he got the impression she would be remaking anything that he showed a liking towards. Was it all mothers that prepared their children's favorites or just the guilty ones that lost you?

Piper realized that it was the accent that was throwing her of. Why in God's name had she assumed that he would be an American? Salek sounded like a Brit and therefore Derek spoke English with a hint of a British accent which he obliviously picked up from him. The question must have been on Leo's mind as well as he asked the question.

"You seem to have an accent when you speak English?" it was phrased as a question and a statement and was asking a lot in disguise.

Derek seemed to know what they were asking, "English is not my first tongue. I spoke Gallic before I came to be with Salek, which is the common language of the midlands."

It was Melinda who asked the question, "Don't all demons speak English? I mean the ones we always run into seemed to speak English."

Only years of associating with imbeciles kept Salek from rolling his eyes. Why weren't these people thought anything? When things got calmer he was going to do some serious investigations to see what had happened to all the light information sources. He knew that a lot was lost during the sixteenth century during the witch burnings but they should have been able to put most of it back together, especially if they had Elders and whitelighters to re-build the sources.

He looked on proudly as Chris answered the little girl's question, "There are as many languages in the underworld as there are probably on the surface. And the underworld probably speaks more as those that wish to visit the surface need to be efficient in the language of the area they wish to visit."

At this it was the twice-blessed child who asked, "What? Do they give out passports or something to those that come to the surface?"

Derek smiled at the older boys sarcastic comment, he was going to like him. "Not passports no but you do need to let the people in charge of which ever section you live under know that you have the power to come to the surface and that you intend to, so there would not be any problems should there be any exposure problems."

"I was not aware that the underworld was so organized, it always looked like it was individual demons working for themselves," said Piper.

This time it was Salek who answered as the conversation was going off track and he wanted to bring the focus back onto Derek no matter how relieved Derek looked at managing to change the topic to something else, tonight's point was getting to know Derek.

"Just like the magical community up here the world down below is monitored by a group of dark elders. Although there are more elders, sections and people involved with the monitoring down below as all of the residences are aware of magic and demons and what not, however I don't think you want to be discussing the underworld of all places tonight."

At that he received a dirty look from Derek who a moment before was looking smug at having Salek join in the conversation. He was under the impression if he could get Salek to speak then he would be safe.

"When did you learn to speak English?" asked Piper. She would have never assumed that English would not have been his first language, he was fluent.

"I have just learned to speak English in the last two years, and I am afraid I have picked up my tutors accent when speaking the language."

"What's your main language of choice?" asked Leo with interest. He wanted to learn everything that was possible about his son and he wanted it to be fast.

"I speak Gallic obviously and I am proficient in Latmik, which is the demonic language of the monastery, and everyone there speaks Latmik for daily conversations and I also enjoy Chinese literature in its original form as I really enjoy Chinese calligraphy although I am not really good at it," he said with a little smile. He remembered fondly Salek trying to teach him the art and he usually ended up with more ink on him than the paper. He was proficient in producing a decent Chinese calligraphy document however came nowhere near an artistic flare. He went on when he realized that everyone was staring at him.

"Although since I learned English I have preferred it to others and I was curious why it was." He turned quiet for a moment thinking and wondering if the reason he preferred English was because he originally at one point in time spoke English. He wanted to know if he could speak before he was taken and just how old he had been. He wanted to know all sorts of answers to his questions like how big was this family, did he have aunts, uncles and cousins and he was desperate to know when his birthday was, when was a good time to ask that question of these people?

It was the twice-blessed that attempted to continue the conversation, "how many languages do you speak?" he asked. Derek thought that he actually heard the question in his mind as well as aloud. This was something they were going to have to explore. Could the twice-blessed hear him as well, and how far was this connection? He wondered if the twice-blessed would be interested in coming to the monastery with him to speak to some of the masters.

"I would," came the suddenly aloud answer and everyone turned to look at Wyatt. Wyatt at that moment was shocked. He was sure that the thought process had belonged to him, he was wondering why his brain was over followed with thoughts and feelings all of a sudden and he was sure that Derek had been speaking to him.

They both turned to each other in surprise and it was Derek who reached out with his thoughts, after all he had had received instruction in sending out thoughts. In the underworld were even your breathing could be heard in the total silence of the caverns you needed to be able to communicate with others that were around you in total silence.

Only magical beings were able to send out thoughts and therefore they were usually the leaders of expeditions and were in charge. Many were just able to send out simple commands to the others and that was it. Derek was more successful in sending out thoughts then others and could actually focus on individual members of his team and tell them separately what he wanted them to do rather than sending the thought out to everyone as many was known to do.

As Derek reached out he was meet half way by a powerful and brilliant source. It was clumsy and wobbling around like a toddler however there was no mistaking the identity of the person. Suddenly they both found out that they could feel each other and Derek was sure he could feel more of Wyatt then he could feel of himself. He knew that besides trying to find a topic to speak with him and make a good impression, Wyatt was also thinking about the fact that he wearing dress pants and they were a tad uncomfortable and he wanted to see if longer hair would suit him better and maybe Leslie would like him better than. With a nudge Derek was able to gain access to all of Wyatt's memories of Leslie and within a second he had seen all of Wyatt's thoughts and feelings on the subject of Wyatt would be girl friend.

Wyatt on the other hand was in awe. He had never realized that one could have so many thoughts at one go. While Derek was mentally here and was obviously overwhelmed by them and was wondering what they thought of him and was also wondering just like him what would be a good conversation to have at this dinner table. A part of his brain was analyzing something Wyatt was sure was quantum physics while another part was wondering if he could use the computer system they had at home to break into the FBI files on magic or if he need more hard-ware and where he could get his hands on it without letting Salek know about it and he was also thinking of an assignment that he had to write for a teacher.

Wyatt snapped out of the daze with a start. What now? FBI? THE _FBI_? Suddenly he felt like a ton of bricks were falling on him. As he saw what he was sure was the wall of China being built around him, there was no way out! He was going to be crushed! Water was also rushing into the area and filling up the closed area and he was feeling like drowning. As the mental pain became physical he pushed back from his chair holding onto the sides of his head as he tried to break free.

Both Leo and Piper were out of their seats and had rushed over to their son who was obviously in pain. It had all happened so fast one minute they were holding an awkward conversation and then their sons had made eye contact and now this.

It was Leo that suddenly had an idea of what was going on and who was responsible. He would reflect back on his words in later days with great regret.

"Chris! What on God's name think you are doing! Release Wyatt now!"

That seemed to bring Derek out of whatever trance he was in as he got up of the table backing away in fright. "I am sorry, I don't know what happened."

Salek came around the table to Derek and tried to call him down, he knew what happened when Derek became too emotional and his powers went out of control and he was sure that Derek was on an emotional roller coaster ride tonight anyway. "Derek you need to calm down,"

"He was in my mind," came the almost panicked confession from his son. At those words Piper turned around to look at her son. She had been attending to Wyatt and hadn't really looked over at her younger son. She had not been sure who was responsible for her son's condition but at those words looked over at Derek.

As her gaze turned onto him Derek didn't know what he was feeling or thinking, here he was meeting them for the first time and he had to go and hurt their son. What were they going to think of him? And his mother was looking at him with a frown on her face probably thinking something along the lines of what have I let into my house?

With a last look at her he said, "I _am_ really sorry," and he was gone before anyone could get in a word as he had never been there.

The moment Derek left Wyatt breathed in a deep breath, the pressure and the images he was seeing disappearing in an instant. He had been drowning under earth, stones and water. What the hell was that?

Salek looked around at Derek's family, so the brothers had a psychic link, rare but not unheard of in magical or even some mortal siblings, although it tended to happen more with twins. "Well that defiantly could have gone better," he said with a smile. Nothing to cry over just people not understanding what was going on. He went on before they came to their senses and kept him here more than necessary, he needed to be with Derek not them.

"I'll be in touch. As I am sure you would want explanations, if you already not have them and probably a repeat of tonight as well, we never got around to desert which is Derek's favorite part of the meal by the way. But now you have to excuse me I have to go see to my charge," and with that he gave a slight incline of the head to the family and dark-orbed out of their home, leaving behind no doubts that he was Chris's lighter and a dark one at that.

* * *

_To quote Salek "That could have gone better!" but do not fear the Charmed Ones are known to be stubborn they are not going to give up on their son!_


	13. Chapter 13

_Hello there!  
I am finally on vacation! So you can accept more updates, although I cannot make promises to how frequent because I don't know how fast the story will be written.  
An honorable mention that I forgot to give last chapter goes to 'mclauglin' who gave me the most awesome review that I have ever received! Thank you! _

* * *

When Salek orbed to where Derek was he found him in his room at their house in Istanbul pacing up and down, up and down the length of the room. He stood watching the boy for a minute before interrupting.

"You know it wasn't a big deal."

With that Derek snapped around to him, Salek knew that Derek had been aware that he had been there the moment he orbed in and had failed to acknowledge him and for a moment Salek was momentary stunned by the amount of raw power that Derek was barely holding in check, the whole room was vibrating.

"Wasn't a big deal? WASN'T A BIG DEAL!" his voice got higher as he repeated the question. "I hurt their son, this was the first time I was meeting them and I had to go and hurt their son."

Salek held up a hand and the rant stopped. Derek had been trained well to obey orders and even though Salek had been working on breaking that particular training/habit for years it on occasions came in handy.

"One," he held up a finger to emphasize his point. "Whatever you did was not intentional," he transferred the finger gesture to a full hand gesture to stop the argument that Derek wished to make.

"Unless you knew what was happening and can tell me exactly what you did…" there he stopped and looked for a response, he saw Derek had no argument and that he had transferred his gaze to the floor.

"Look at me," he waited until Derek was looking at him in the eye before he went on, "I'll repeat what I said, whatever happened was not intentional and therefore was not your fault." He looked at Derek, "please repeat what I just told you."

No matter how smart Derek was sometimes you had to make him repeat things for them to sink in and for him to mull over them later.

"Whatever happened was not my fault," he repeated automatically and frowned, he remembered the piercing pain Wyatt was in the moment Leo Wyatt had stopped whatever was happening between them and even though he had killed demons and humans alike he never enjoyed causing pain, being on the receiving end of what his master had named 'pleasure torture' sessions gave you a different perspective. He especially did not enjoy causing pain or harm to someone he liked. He stopped right there, did he like Wyatt? He had just met him and didn't really know him, however when he now reflected back to the moment that their minds had mingled he knew that with that one single glance at Wyatt he had known him and knowing him he knew with certainty that he would like him given the chance.

Salek didn't mention anything, his job was to direct, not lead. If Derek came to the conclusion that he didn't like the twice-blessed then so be it. But knowing the boy he knew it was unlikely.

"Two, you mentioned that you hurt their son," he looked at Derek and Derek nodded his head not knowing where this was leading.

"If you have missed the point for tonight let me remind you: we went to the Halliwell's residence tonight because you too are their _son_," he said emphasizing the word 'son' just in case Derek had doubts.

"But…" started Derek.

"No buts, you are their son. Yes they might not know you but that does not mean they love you any less."

Love? Derek was thinking of these people actually liking him, loving him was something he had not even considered.

"How?" was the only thing he could come up with.

"It's like a universal rule," at Derek's confused look he smiled and went on, "to love your child is something every parent must do."

Derek couldn't help but snort. He might have been in some ways naïve in terms of the world but he knew that there were people who did not love their children. In fact there were people who did not even like their children.

"I am not talking about the exceptions or the extremes," said Salek before continuing, "Majority of parents around the world love their offspring."

"They don't know me, I grew up in the underworld, and they are the Halliwell's!"

"So," was the only response Salek made.

"So? I am undecided; I have no idea what I am going to do with my life. Now that I am a Halliwell isn't it sort of given what I should be?"

"NO!" Derek was taken aback by the fierceness of the response. "No matter whom you are or who you decide to be you will always have a choice."

He went on after a moment, "even the Halliwell's get to make the choice, although in the last hundred years or so there has never been one who has chosen the other side. But this does not mean that it is not going to happen. And besides many children at the age of nineteen are undecided on what they want to do with their lives, heck I was undecided what I wanted to do with my life when I was a thousand!"

Derek looked skeptical and it was not important at the moment, this would be something that would be discussed and decided later.

"No matter who you are your parents will love you," he said with conviction.

"How do you know?" was the response from the lost boy.

"Just because what you have said, they are the good guys and good guys will always do the right thing." He smiled thinking that was very simple and some things in life were just that simple.

"Also you are not a surprise that they were not expecting. They already loved you even if they thought you were dead." He waited a moment for Derek to comprehend that piece of information before going on, "and even if you came to be a total surprise all they need is to meet you to love and cherish you," he said while smirking and thinking he sounded like a soap opera but it didn't make it less true. Derek had a way with people and creatures, after meeting him and getting to know him everyone become a planet orbiting the star. It made it more effective because the star was not aware of his affect on his ever growing star system of people.

Salek abruptly changed the subject not wanting to dwell on the topic of love and families for much longer, they were a new concept for Derek and because he was brought up thinking he was an orphan it was an overload of information for the very young boy. It was one of the pit falls of being so old. You kind of tended to forget how young the people around you were and that they didn't always understand things as fast as you accepted them to.

"What do you think happened tonight?" he asked distracting Derek from the concept of love to the original problem at hand.

Derek thought long and hard about it before answering, "well he was in my mind seeing my thoughts and feelings and it felt like he belonged there."

"Was it only him that was in your mind or were you in his too?"

"I was in his too," Derek took a minute to rethink the experience, it had been incredible to suddenly feel that connected and close to a person and then it had all gone to hell.

"I'll repeat my original question; what do you think happened tonight?" repeated Salek taking a seat on the computer chair that was there by the boys desk littered with computer parts. It looked like he was putting together a computer, and for a second wondered just what Derek was up to, he put that thought to a side as something to be thought about latter and concentrated on the problem at hand.

The boy took a seat on his twin size bed before answering. Salek was momentarily distracted when he remembered trying to get Derek to sleep on this paticular bed that was in his room, it had been a struggle. For a child who had slept on the floor when he was young and then on a pallet in his master's sitting room, the concept of his own bedroom and huge bed was a very foreign concept. He remembered catching the boy jumping up and down on his bed just a few months ago and had never mentioned it to the boy, sometimes age did not matter for several experiences to happen. He pulled his concentration back to the present when Derek had finished his thought process and was continuing.

"Well the link kind of happened when we shook hands for the first time in the living room. It was like…" he stopped to think about what it felt like, "it was like he had always been a part of me and I just wasn't aware and it felt so good." He smiled thinking how right it had felt to be connected to the twice-blessed.

"I am thinking that it was some sort of psychic link but we would have to examine its boundaries and limitations..." he stopped and wondered if Wyatt would ever want to see him again after tonight's events, he hoped so.

"If it felt so right, why did you try to stop the link?" asked Salek, he guessed just like Leo that it was him that was trying to stop whatever was happening and the question was why?

"He was in my mind," relied Derek.

The boy could be stubborn when he wanted to, "you already said that, and I ask again; why? Your mind cannot be that bad of place to be in as I am sure it is one of the greatest minds of this century and probably had thoughts that Wyatt Halliwell couldn't comprehend. You cannot object that much to having a foreign being in there especially if it felt so right." He stopped to let that sink in before going on, "unless he saw something he should not have. Something you don't want anyone knowing and considering that thought would be something I should not know, I am hoping it is something that is not going to get you into too much trouble."

It was late and he was tired of beating around the bush. When Derek transferred his gaze to the floor once again he knew that he had deducted right, Derek should know by now that he was entitled to private thoughts and that Salek didn't what to know every little detail of his life.

"Now the question is; do you trust him?" at that Derek looked back up. "I do not want to know what you are up to, unless I have to come and rescue you from a demon clan for taking away their sacrifice," he said remembering the incident from two years ago where Derek had almost started a war when he objected to a twelve year old human boy being sacrificed after being raised by the demon clan for that specific purpose. It had taken a lot of fast talking and a few heads rolling for the clan to change their minds about wanting to sacrifice Derek in the child's place.

Derek wasn't sure if he trusted Wyatt and he suddenly realized that was the problem, it wasn't that he was in his mind and he was seeing things that were private, Derek wasn't sure if he would keep them to himself. It was the thought of having someone in your mind and never having a private thought. Even now when he was on the other side of the world from Wyatt he could still feel him in the back of his mind and he knew if he reached out he would be there just as he was standing next to him and he wasn't sure if he wanted to be that close to be with another human being.

"I don't know," he answered honestly.

"Do you want to know if you could trust him?" asked Salek.

"Yes," Derek momentary blinked when the answer came without him even thinking about it.

"I know that you are afraid that you would not be able to have another private thought and no one wants someone in their mind all the time," said Salek and Derek wondered and not for the first time if Salek himself wasn't physic, he always seemed to know what he was thinking.

"I have to apologize this was partly my fault," said Salek after a moment and Derek frowned, did Salek know something like this was going to happen?

"We know that Coltac used some powerful magic to hide you from your family," he waited until he got a nod in response. "In magical families it has to with summing a family member or scrying for them or any other magical detection. Because part of your family is whitelighters, they have the ability to feel you wherever you go, just like I am able to feel you 'cause you are my charge and will be as long as you need me," he explained.

Derek's frown got deeper, did that mean that he could always be found? It had merit you could always find the person if they are in trouble but what if the person did not wish to be found? Once again Salek answered the questions that were flying through his mind.

"There are always ways to block the people in various ways," he admitted, at this Derek tilted his head to the side. There was a way to block Salek out? Something good could possibly come out of this after all.

"Don't even think about it," came the warning. "Now back to the problem at hand. The magic that was hiding you could have been broken if we found the right witches and did some reversal spells but the easiest way to break these kind of spells is a physical connection to the said family member. Now your father might not be magical but he should be able to feel you because he probably still has some whitelighter powers left over and your mother should be able to summon you if she wished, the spells should have broken the moment you had physical contact with them."

Derek was once again frowning; he seemed to be doing that a lot tonight. It was that easy to break hiding spells? He decided to voice that question aloud, "is it that easy to break hiding spells?"

"No they are not, however a long time has passed since the ones on you have been cast and if you were to continue your life as a slave then someone would have been renewing the spells once in a while, no one has done anything for them for the last ten years and the emotional over charge your family had at meeting you should have been powerful enough to break the ones on you. Of course you would have to have physical contact with the other members of the family for the same effect to happen."

There was a lot to think about tonight and Salek was continuing, "my apology comes with the fact I did not think that you would have a physic link with your brother. Normally physic links are more common with magical twins and even some mortal twins. The link if it was left to grow naturally would not have been that powerful. You both would have learned to control it and not let it get that far. Unfortunately it had a magical backlash when it broke from the blocks."

He stopped there; he believed that was enough for one night even for a genius. "Now a last question before we retire for the night. What do you want to do about it?"

Derek's answer came so fast that it surprised him, "I would like to opportunity to see him again if he wishes to see me."

"And your parents?"

Derek swallowed before answering, "Wyatt first and then if they still want to see me I would like to see them as well," he said not quite sure of himself, would they want to see him?

"You can go back to apologize," suggested Salek and Derek was shaking his head back and forth getting up and moving back a few steps.

Salek did not raise a coward, his eyes narrowed and his voice took on a colder tone, "I will let this excuse pass only once and I mean it! ONLY once will you be allowed to be a coward about this, after this you are to step up and accept the consequences of your actions regarding your family. Am I clear?"

"Yes, sir," came the timid answer and Salek let it slide as well considering that Derek was going through an emotional hurricane and for a child who showed little emotion it must be his personal hell.

"Get some rest because if I know of your mother's reputation if we do not make contact you will find yourself summoned to her," he said before orbing back out to go to go back to the Halliwell residence knowing that they would be awake at this unholy hour thinking about what had happened.

XXXXXXX

When he orbed back to the Halliwell manor he found himself in the famous attic with the majority of the family in attendance and candles spread out, so he was right; they were planning on summoning his charge.

One look around showed him that the Charmed Ones were there along with their husbands and some of their children. He did not know who was who however he noted that there was a boy along with a set of twins and another girl. The attic looked over full.

"I have to tell you that when Derek is summoned he has a tendency to attack first and ask questions later," he informed them when he fully materialized.

"You are a darklighter," accused Paige Halliwell.

"Actually I prefer to orb in dark I however can orb in both," he told them and orbed in blue from one side of the room to the other to prove his point.

"What are you?" asked one of the girls and Salek lifted an eyebrow at the girl.

"And you are?"

"Prue Halliwell, I am Chris's cousin," she said unnecessary.

"Really? Never would have guessed," smirked Salek before going on, "to answer your question I am neither a dark or whitelighter and I am both."

"What does that mean?" asked one of the husbands; he really didn't care which one.

Salek took the whole of the room in before answering, he had no intention of giving up on Derek and he knew that he needed to get along with these people because he wanted Derek to have his family. Therefore he had to come clean about what and who he was and his position in their son's life.

"I am a lighter, simple as that. I am called in if the magical person I am to guide is truly undecided and both sides have equal rights over them."

"My son is not evil and evil has no rights over him!" said Piper.

Salek truly felt for the eldest Charmed One. "Your son is undecided, this I have told you when we met. The reason I was called is now clear, if he did not come from such a powerful light family, I am sure a darklighter would have been called to guide your son." He held of the arguments, "your son has been raised in the underworld as a _slave_, the rules of the underworld is that you remain a slave until you kill your master to set yourself free." He stopped to let that sink in. "I set your son free at the age of ten under similar conditions, while I killed the man who was his master that day he killed more than enough demons that came to take him back."

"It does not count, he was protecting himself," proclaimed Phoebe.

"Do you know that many of the demons you as the Charmed Ones have vanquished were either freed slaves and had no options except of becoming hired help because they knew nothing else or were in fact slaves and had no choice in the matter?"

There was stunned silence in the attic. Never in their life had they considered that the demons that had attacked them might not be doing it of their own free will.

"Sometimes in life there aren't many choices and it is not all white and black." He waited a moment and went on, "now I have asked this question of your son and I will ask it of you: what do you want to happen now?"

Leo was the one who answered, "There is no question, and we want our son. What happened tonight was a miss understanding and if we could see him we will tell him ourselves however you are in the way!" Leo was patient but he was losing some of his cool.

"Trust me, I do not like being the go between you and your son however the boy who is not afraid of plunking of a dark cliff in the underworld or running head long into a demon clan by himself is afraid of what you are going to think of him and I will protect him physically as well in the matters of the heart."

"What happens now?" asked Piper in tears, she was determined not to start crying but she had gained her son for a time of twenty seven minutes and wanted him for life.

"Do you know what happened between the two boys tonight?" asked Salek.

"They apparently have a physic link that came to life a little bit stronger than anyone anticipated," answered Phoebe.

Salek just raised an eyebrow so they weren't that lost after all, "you know about physic links?"

"Both Pandora and Poppy share a link," said Paige indicating the twins, "and all of Phoebe's daughters also share a three way link."

Salek was impressed, in no circles had he heard that the next generation of Charmed Ones had links, this would make them a formidable fighting team.

"You and Melinda?" asked Salek looking at Wyatt.

"No, we had thought that the ability belonged only to the females of the family and that we were exempt," joined in the other boy in the attic.

"Can you be trusted?" he asked turning to Wyatt. At his confused look he continued, "one of the reason you were attacked by your brother tonight was that you saw something that he did not wish for anyone to know."

He saw that Wyatt had opened his mouth to reply, "if it is not going to get him killed or in serious trouble then I don't want to know and my advice is that you do not share it with anyone else if you wish for him to trust you in return."

"How will I know that it will not get him in trouble?" asked the twice-blessed which was a real mature question thought Salek.

"If you are in doubt, I ask that you share your concerns with your father, who was a whitelighter and Elder as well and can give you advice or although you do not yet know me I am also available however I am sure that whatever the thought was it was being hid from me so I honestly don't want to know."

He saw that Wyatt was nodding his head agreeing with keeping whatever he saw to himself at least for the moment.

"What kind of training have the girls received in terms of working their link?" he inquired of the attic in general.

The adults in the room exchanged looks, "we never got any training we kind of played it by ear," replied Prue.

Salek took back the thought about them not being lost, they were idiots! He was stunned for a moment before taking the situation to hand. He turned to the twice-blessed child "tomorrow you will be meeting the teacher who will be working with both you and Derek on controlling the link so a repeat of tonight will not be happening." After looking around the room we continued, "and the day after tomorrow the rest of the people in this family who share links will also be meeting with the teacher to learn how to control their links and seeing if they can expand to talk to one another as well. It will come in very handy if any one of the pairs could at least talk to any other one."

"Hey!" broke in Paige, "you cannot come in here and tell us what to do. We have been doing quite fine on our own thank you very much. I have been my daughters whitelighter and I have been helping them with their link."

"Have you thought them how to block the link?"

"Why on earth would we want to block each other out?" asked one of the twins moving towards her twin.

"Did you know that if one of the partners in a physic link dies a prolonged and tortured death the other will likely die in the magical backlash?" inquired Salek. The total silence in the attic told him that they did not know enough about links.

"What I just told you was an extreme, and not likely to happen," he saw that the adults in the room at least breathed in a breath of relief. Salek also thought that he needed to get in touch with Ares to see if he could get in touch with some of the Elders of the light side and get more knowledge into their whitelighters. "What is likely to happen is that you might be in middle of something important, it could be a fight or anything and your link might be enjoying him or herself with a partner." He saw that the children in the attic held in giggles while the elder ones were embarrassed. "You do not want to be part of your partners life for the rest of your life do you?" he asked directing the question to the children who shared links and saw them shake their heads.

"I will get you some reading material on physic links as well and will be in touch about the tutor later today. And before you ask, I will make sure that your children get a tutor that is not a demon and lives on the surface. My suggestion to you will be same I gave Derek; get some rest, I'll be back."

And with that he orbed out (in black just to annoy them) to go see if that oracle witch still lived as a hermit in the woodlands of Scotland.

_

* * *

Well here you are. You the people who have been reading and letting me know that you enjoy dialog have been leading this story. When there are more dialogs the story seems to move a little slower. I would love it if you let me know what you think._

_Coming up: some real bonding with Wyatt and a little bit of mush with Piper, I don't think we got enough of that in the show._

_The chapter after that will deal with why Derek is so much powerful than Chris._


	14. Chapter 14

Wyatt was sitting through an Economy lecture for the third time in three years. He had taken economy 101 in his first year of university as it was one of the standard courses but he just couldn't manage to pass it. He was now in his third year of university and he had to pass the course this time otherwise he would be put on academic probation.

It wasn't that he was dumb he just couldn't get through some of the required courses that included mathematical thinking. He excelled in psychological and logical courses and had already picked his major; he wished to be guidance counselor in a high school and help youngsters but he first needed to pass this course also mathematics 151.

His life wasn't helping at all with his desire to lead a bit of a normal life and get a degree. His brother who had been missing for the last fifteen years had popped up and while Wyatt had not been too sure about him when he had first learned about him, it had taken a handshake with him to put all his worries to rest, Wyatt had always felt out of place and that something was missing in his life. He had always thought that these feelings were there because he was supposed to be twice-blessed, Charmed, magical and all and he felt out of place both in the mortal world and well as the magical world because of these things and not because he was missing his other half.

He had very quickly realized that his younger brother was the missing part of his personality and that Wyatt had been missing him since he had disappeared all those years ago. He had remet his brother only four days ago and his life had been turned upside down or was it that it was finally the right way round? He found out that they shared a physic link and that his brother was a genius who despite being outwardly extremely quiet had a comment about anything and everything he met in life and a sarcastic personality as well as a streak for trying to get into trouble.

After a disastrous meeting which had led to Chris fleeing the manor they had gotten together with their teacher that somehow Salek had produced within several hours after finding about their physic link. Wyatt had tried calling his younger brother Derek in his mind, as well as aloud but it just didn't seem to fit him, and just yesterday Chris had told him that he did not mind being called by another name by his brother. So he was Chris to Wyatt, Derek to Salek and Theo to Bruno and he didn't seem to mind.

Their teacher was an old witch that lived literary in the middle of nowhere. Wyatt was told it was somewhere in Scotland and Harriet, as that was her name, seemed like someone's sweet grandmother than a formidable witch. She was a nonsense of person when it came to magical training but did not mind feeding them endless chocolate chip cookies when they were done.

They had gotten together again just the next day after the dinner party and they had found out that Harriet could interfere with their link. It wasn't that she could hear their thoughts like they could but she could get in between and cut off their link. Apparently that was one of her active powers, useful if you were hunting down people with links; you cut them off from each other and then hunted them one by one. Apparently people who shared links felt a great loss when their other half was suddenly silent and were quite distraught therefore made easy targets. Wyatt had wondered how Salek had known of this witch and how he found her and got her to agree to take them on so quickly but those where questions for a later date.

Their first lesson had been a disaster with Harriet running interference at every moment. It seemed that Chris objected to Wyatt being in his mind at every possible moment and Wyatt was left with a migraine, man he wanted to know how Chris was able to squash him mentally.

The second lesson they had taken with the rest of the cousins in attendance. Wyatt was a little disappointed in that lesson as well. He always had a hero worship among his female cousins but the moment they met Chris they were in love. They couldn't stop asking him questions and wanting to know stuff and man was Chris calm and really cool about it all. He hadn't had the nervous reaction he had had meeting his actual family but he was relaxed and Wyatt was sure that Penny, Aunt Phoebe's youngest at 12 years old was actually in love with her cousin. She had followed him around everywhere.

Perhaps it had been Wyatt reaction or that they were all at different places with their links that Harriet had decided that they should all have separate training. Wyatt was glad. Harriet had wanted to see them every day this week hoping to give them enough familiarity with their link so they could live without the migraines at least on Wyatt's part. They had had two more lessons or training sessions since then and they had been going moderately better. Even if Chris objected to having Wyatt in his mind they had gotten on like a house on fire and Wyatt believed that he had found the best friend he had always been searching for.

Wyatt was fascinated by Harriet's instruction technique, for the first hour they would explore the depth of the link with Harriet there so she could run interference if anything went wrong, which it did at every turn. Wyatt at least was learning not to look too deeply into his brother's mind which seemed to be working out fine for both of them.

Then the next hour they would play hide and seek. Wyatt thought this was the silliest thing he had ever done but he saw the merit in the exercise, not only did hiding from each other reinforce their link when they were trying to find one another, it also helped them mute it when they were trying to hide from each other.

Wyatt had found out just yesterday the hard way that his brother liked to pounce on him whenever he managed to sneak up to him. It wasn't only Wyatt's body that was bruised from being thrown onto the ground but his ego, no one had ever gotten the better of him before, however Wyatt had also felt the joy that radiated through the link whenever they were allowed to play and by just glimpsing into some of Chris's memories he had seem how little he had been allowed to play while growing up so Wyatt had decided that he would put up with it as long as it made Chris happy.

He felt his brother steer at the back of his mind and realized that Chris had been sleeping and that is why it had been so quiet until then and Chris was just waking up. Through the link he got a load of feelings and thoughts about how shitty mornings were and just that you should not get up and while the sun was great and all did it have to be so bright in the mornings? Wyatt smiled thinking that his little brother was definitely not a morning person while he just loved mornings. "Good morning" he whispered under his breath, he had yet to learn to send his thoughts as direct speeches through the link and had to speak them to be heard. He couldn't help but smile as he got a feeling/thought back like, _'you know what, you take your good morning and …'_

Wyatt's concentration was cut of there when he realized that the professor was speaking directly to him asking him something. Wyatt found out that he wasn't even listening to the lecture let alone know the answer to the question the professor was asking. Wasn't university professors not really suppose to care if you were listening or not? He was momentarily surprised when the answer popped into his mind and he found himself answering. He wasn't sure who was more surprised him or the professor however the professor recovered first and retaliated by asking him another question.

He felt a shuffling of his thoughts and realized that it was not him who had answered the question. It had been his brother who had just woken up minute ago and had heard his thoughts and provided him with an answer. Now the teacher had a new question that Chris did not know the answer to, so he was searching. Wyatt wanted to tell him to stop looking because he did not know. He was more shocked when the knowledge he was seeking was found within his own memories at a lecture he had taken the first year of university.

He answered the professors' question and the professor told him that he was glad that he was putting in the extra effort to pass his course this time around and wanted this attitude to continue. To this comment he felt an intense anger and hate directed towards the professor and felt his hands heating up as his powers started to activate. "Stop it," he whispered and the student that was next to him turned to him like he was insane. And he knew he must look like a nut talking to himself but Wyatt was sure that the anger wasn't his.

He had a hard time hating anyone, his uncle who was a cupid had told him that this trait had the makings of a great cupid if he wanted. However Wyatt in just the four days realized what anger and hate felt like, although his brother rarely attacked on these feelings he still felt them regularly on a daily bases and Wyatt knew for sure that Salek knew what had been talking about when he had told them that Derek was undecided.

He provided his brother with a distraction by recalling to mind a funny memory of when he was younger and in magic school when a potion he was learning had gone wrong and had left majority of the class with woo do tiny heads and it had taken the power of three to set it right. He felt the anger melt away although promises of revenge were still there. He felt his brother clearly be amused by what he was being shown and again felt the shuffling, he had come to know the feeling as Chris looking around. Harriet had told them that it was natural, if they had been connected since birth as they were supposed to they would have gotten each other's memories daily and therefore would not be this curious about each other.

Wyatt had very quickly realized that he did not mind having Chris in his mind or the fact that he had access to all his memories. He had nothing to hide and his other half was welcome to it however he knew that the feeling was not mutual. Chris guarded himself and hid behind walls. Wyatt got used to having several migraines a day as he could too with a thought shuffle through Chris's memories and most of the time Chris would object to sharing and Wyatt would receive a mind crushing headache in return for his curiosity.

In Chris's mind he had glimpsed at a lot of different things, Chris did not really object to sharing his memories of the Catar Monastery, his teachers, and his friends or his trouble making scenes. After a chat about the FBI Wyatt had even been convinced to help him along, he was sure that Chris would make one hell of a lawyer if he wanted, he was that convincing. However Chris was reluctant to share any of his memories before he came to be with Salek, and from what Wyatt had seen in the milliseconds before Chris had dropped a ton of bricks on him every time they were not pleasant. He really had to get together with his brother and tell him that he did not mind but he knew that this would be a long and hard road. He would prefer if Chris told him about them first on his own terms before he was allowed to see them.

'_Pay attention!'_ with that Wyatt jerked up startling the girl next to him more than before and looked around, who had said that? In a second he realized that it had been Chris. He tired to pay attention but it was difficult to do so when Chris was thinking of breakfast. Wyatt could always eat so he was distracted by his brother who had finally gotten out of bed and was thinking about what he should eat along with paying more attention to Wyatt's lecture then him.

Wyatt was suddenly stuck with a genius idea. He carefully shielded his idea from his brother with the techniques he had been learning from Harriet and hide and seek games. Now all he had to do was get him to be quiet. He bent over his notebook and whispered, "if you are quiet and help me through this lecture then I promise to get you a breakfast you would not forget easily."

The girl next to him shushed him and he gave her an evil look that would have made Chris proud and he felt Chris make an effort at trying not to think too much, which Wyatt thought was difficult and got what he could only describe as a mental slap from the other end who had heard that particular thought.

He saw/felt Chris go outside onto what he assumed was a balcony and settle down overlooking what Wyatt thought was one of the most beautiful views he had (ever or was it never) seen? And suddenly Wyatt found himself focused on the lecture and he was taking notes. Looking down at his notes he saw that he did not really understand most of them and realized that he was following along to Chris's thought process. Suddenly Wyatt realized that taking finals with Chris in his mind might be easier than anticipated. '_I somehow think that Harriet might object to that' _came the thought. And Wyatt smiled thinking of the reaction their Mum would have at learning that they had used their link to cheat.

At the thought of their Mum he felt Chris's heart give a jolt and checked that his shields were in place about what he planned for after class and smiled. "Concentrate," he whispered to him and got a response back _'it's not me who is having a hard time concentrating, now be quiet, what that idiot is saying is actually interesting' _and Wyatt found out that he did indeed understand what the professor was saying when the thoughts where filtered by his brother. When the lecture was over he used the moving students' noise to cover his speaking and told his brother to stay put and that he would orb to him and take him out to breakfast.

After finding a spot he was sure that was secluded he concentrated on his brother and orbed to where he was.

He orbed onto the balcony his brother was sitting on and this time his breath hitched when he saw the view. His brother was sitting on a balcony overlooking trees and then the sea (or was it a river?) there were boats and tankers going both ways and he could see the other side that was also green with a few houses among the trees. It was breath taking.

"It's the Sea of Marmara; you are actually looking at another continent on the other side," said Chris who was longing on deckchair.

"It's pretty cool," he replied trying to whack his brain thinking about what continent he was on and what was the other side.

"You are in Istanbul where I live and this part is in Europe overlooking Asia," came the answer and Wyatt thought that he should get used to having his questions answered without voicing them.

"Yes, you should," said the annoying person from the deckchair before getting up, "you promised me breakfast if I was quiet and I think that qualified as quiet. Now I want what I was promised!"

Without answering him Wyatt reached over and grabbed him on the forearm and orbed them both.

They rematerialized in the foyer of the manor with Wyatt shouting, "Mom? Mom?"

"What are we doing here?" asked Chris in a panicked voice.

"I promised you a breakfast you would not forget and this is where we are going to get it," answered Wyatt in a real calm voice trying to send clam thoughts to his panicking sibling.

At that moment Piper Halliwell came into the foyer after hearing her oldest call for her. She froze in her place when she saw that both of her sons where standing there. Since the attempted dinner she had yet to see her younger son who had been reluctant to return to his home and here he was standing with a deer caught in the lights look.

Piper decided not to make a too big a deal of it, "hello boys, what can I do for you?"

Wyatt gave her a smile and she had realized that this was exactly how he had wanted her to behave.

"See Mum, Chris here just woke up, it is morning where he lives and I promised him a breakfast he would not forget and this is where we can get that breakfast," he said with a clear face and Piper could see that Wyatt was holding onto Chris so if he decided to magically disappear he would have to take Wyatt with him.

"Please …" pleaded Chris in a voice he hoped was strong enough, and stopped before he could get any further, what on earth was he supposed to call her? Mother? Mum? Defiantly not, Eldest? Mrs. Halliwell? Ma'am? This was impossible.

Wyatt also froze hearing Chris's thoughts, he had not thought that simple things could be this complicated.

Piper looked between her children, silence she had expected from her younger son but what was wrong that her older son had suddenly seemed unsure as well. She looked at them both but focused her attention onto her elder as she knew she could get him to fess up.

"What is the problem?" she asked Wyatt while glancing between the both of them.

Wyatt looked unsure not wanting to break the confidence of his brother but he was sure Chris was not going to voice this question and this was something his parents should have anticipated and told him when they had seen him for the first time.

"You see…" _'what on earth are you doing?' _ came the thought and Wyatt momentary filed away the fact that while he had to speak his thoughts that he wished Chris to hear aloud Chris apparently didn't have to. He turned to him and whispered a "trust me," both through their link as well as aloud before turning back to face his mother.

"Chris is not sure what he should be calling you," he told his mother.

Piper was momentarily taken back but then inwardly cursed when she too realized this was something they should have addressed five nights ago. She took a deep breath and turned towards her son who seemed more interested in examining the carpet then looking at her.

She very gently said, "hey," she too was unsure what to call her son, while he had been introduced as Derek Wyatt seemed to call him Chris with ease. He very slowly lifted his eyes to look at her and while Piper knew of his intense green eyes she was still taken back by seeing them again.

"While I would love to hear you call me Mum, I also know that it is too early," with the relief she saw in those eyes at being given that choice she knew she had made the right suggestion however her hearth gave a lurch that she wasn't too pleased with, "how about we go with Piper?" she suggested.

Chris frowned and then took a deep breath and decided to voice his concerns "I have been raised to never call someone older in age and in station than me by name and I don't think I would be that comfortable by calling you by your given name."

Piper looked uncertain for a minute, her son was raised in a culture she was not familiar with and she was faced with its repercussions, "in that case how about, and I don't really like this but we can go with Mrs. Halliwell," she said with a smile trying to put her son at ease.

"Thank you Mrs. Halliwell," and after a short pose he continued, "and you do not have to make me breakfast," he suggested, "I am sure we can find somewhere that is more appropriate to my time zone to have breakfast."

With that Wyatt decided to take charge once again. He knew how much his mother wanted this, well maybe not breakfast but at least her son in her home and beside she was a chef, she enjoyed feeding people. This he decided to voice aloud.

"You see Mum is a chef," he started while pulling and dragging his brother towards the kitchen, "feeding the hungry is one of the things she enjoys most and I am sure she is not put out by the thought of making you breakfast. Right Mum?"

Piper who had been following them as if she was in a daze was taken out of with her son's suggestion; she plastered a big smile on her face to hide her nervousness and started gathering stuff while talking. "I would love to make you breakfast, is there anything you would like to eat specifically?" she stopped to ask Chris.

She saw that Chris was looking at her and he was shaking his head, "anything you wish to make is fine with me."

"He likes sugar," came the suggestion from the other side of the kitchen from Wyatt who was taking down stuff to make pancakes. Growing up with someone like Piper Halliwell as your Mum you could not get away without learning to cook and he knew he made great blueberry pancakes that he was sure Chris would love.

Chris threw him a look that Wyatt was sure was meant to kill but through the link he knew his brother was not pissed he was just nervous and wanted to make a good impression on his Mum. On reflection Wyatt saw that he saw their Mum as the legendary Elder Charmed Sister and there was definitely hero worship and he did not yet view Piper as his Mum. Wyatt reflected that his family would take what they could have from Chris before demanding more of him.

Piper on the other hand smiled, sugar was something that she could do. "I am guessing you are making pancakes right," this see directed at Wyatt and then surveyed her realm thinking about what else she could make, "how about sugar scones, apricot compote…eh oh I know cheese and banana toasties as well homemade strawberry jam," she said as well as few other ideas that were flying thought her mind as she started to gather ingredients.

"Please, Mrs. Halliwell," at the quiet request she looked over at son and raised an eyebrow wanting to know what he wanted, "you don't have to make so much food and be put out just because of me," he said.

At that Piper smiled a relaxed smile, "there is nothing I would rather do," she said.

She saw that her son at least accepted that fact and was biting his lower lip before coming to decision, "what can I do to help?"

She wanted say nothing but wanted him sit and relax but she knew that he would not feel that comfortable with that choice so she said, "why don't you sit down here and help me measure stuff."

After a moment she decided to be honest with him, "just so you know I would not let you cook in my kitchen before you can prove yourself however you will be allowed to measure and chop."

"I think I can do that," said Chris feeling a bit more relaxed at least. He moved towards the counter and tried to see what he could do to help.

The next half hour was filled with pleasant conversation at least between Wyatt and Piper. He filled her on how life in university was going and how he was doing in class.

"I am sure I will pass both the economy and math class this time around," he informed her while throwing a look at his younger brother.

Chris who was very carefully cutting strawberries to perfect sizes had to hold in a snort. "Anything you wish to share?" asked Piper of her youngest, one she had seen his reaction, two she knew her older son and his ability when it came to anything mathematical.

"No ma'am," said Chris with a smile in his voice as well as a faint of a smile on his face.

Suddenly Piper decided to change the focus of the conversation, "how about you?" she asked of Chris.

At that Chris looked up confused, "how about me?" repeated.

"Is there a future of higher education in your future?"

"I don't know," Chris said while transferring his gaze back to the strawberries. He wondered if it was ok if he popped one in his mouth while doing this. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Wyatt move towards him and grab a bunch of them and stuffing them into his mouth.

"Hey!" screeched Piper, she did not let people munch on stuff while preparing, not that she could stop it, everyone seemed to do it especially if she was washing salad, her family seemed to materialize out of thin air to grab the freshly washed lettuce.

She froze when she saw Chris's look of fear at having done something wrong and at that moment realized what Wyatt had been doing. Chris had been dutifully cutting strawberries and he had not eaten a single one. Leo would have eaten the occasional while feeding her one as well, Wyatt could not be trusted with the task and if Melinda was to do it Piper knew she would have ended up with only half of the strawberries.

"Stop that!" she told her oldest and turned her attention to her younger son, "you are welcome to eat the occasional strawberry if you wish," she told him and saw him look between her and Wyatt, nod his head and go back to his task. She reached over for an uncut strawberry and picked it up and reached over to her son. She left him the opportunity that if he did not open his mouth to take the strawberry in he would have to lean back and make a grab for it.

After a moment of debate Chris lifted his eyes to meet hers and opened his mouth to bite the strawberry and couldn't help the blush that worked its way onto his cheeks, he could not recall ever being feed by anyone but he was sure that the woman in front of him must have since he was her son. That brought up a question he had been burning to ask.

"How old was I when I was taken?" he asked and actually saw and felt the mood in the kitchen shatter and wanted to take it back. "You don't have to answer it if it makes you uncomfortable, I was just curious," with that he turned his gaze back to the task at hand.

Piper held in a breath and was determined not to cry, "no, it's alright you have every right to know," she saw that he had yet to respond, "I however object to talking to the top of your head," she informed him gently.

With that she saw Chris's head snap up and he looked at her. She smiled at her, "you have beautiful eyes that I would always like to see," she told him and saw the blush that had yet to leave his cheeks now make its way down his neck.

"You were four years, two months and seventeen days old when we lost you."

Chris nodded his head thinking if people actually remembered anything before they were four, "and how long has it been?"

"Fifteen years, six months and twenty one days, I have been counting."

"And that would make me?" wondered Chris.

"Almost twenty," said Piper and Wyatt joined in the conversation, "November 17th." At his mother's look he just shrugged. He had been following along onto his brothers thought process and knew that he was trying to figure out when his actual birthday was.

Piper saw that Chris was not actually happy with this particular piece of information, "what's wrong?" she asked suddenly afraid.

"I am younger than I anticipated," Piper couldn't help but laugh at the response and the disappointed look on her sons face.

"Never mind," she told him while moving the dishes they had made to the table in the kitchen and getting cutlery and stuff. "You will grow soon enough and you do now what this means right?"

At her sons blank look she continued, "it means that your birthday is in just three months." She smiled they had fifteen years of birthdays to make up for and wondered what kind of presents that her son might enjoy receiving.

She wanted to leave the more dramatic discussions for a later date and just enjoy that her son was here alive with her. She looked around at the massive breakfast they had prepared, "well it looks like we are almost ready, what do you gentleman have planned for this afternoon?"

She ushered her boys to the late afternoon breakfast table and sat down with them and listened to them discuss what they were going to that afternoon apparently they were planning an outing after their training with Harriet. She watched as both boys descended on the breakfast like they were starving and checked the time so she would be better prepared for breakfast for her son tomorrow and made a mental note to have breakfast ready for him and get Wyatt to get him to come with or without him.

She sat back to enjoy the moment of having her brave young son back in her kitchen.

* * *

_Well here you go, not much happening in terms of the moving the story along however many of you where looking for Chris and Wyatt interaction, I hope you are OK with this because if the story wishes to move along we have to jump to other things and happenings however I can take another ch__apter to see what Wyatt and Chris could get up to. I have a feeling that they could get into quite a bit of trouble. I have the next chapter which is moving the story along almost written and if Wyatt and Chris wishes to go on a field trip it would take more time. Let me know...those that do let me know do affect the way the story is going... as you can see no Melinda in this chapter so if you are silent you don't get what you want._


	15. Chapter 15

_Hello all,_  
_I have been trying to buy a car for the last three weeks. You would think that since I have the money it would easy right? Wrong! I could not believe it has been this difficult. My country now has a very stupid new rule, when you have to buy your car you have to register it from not only the city you live in but the district you reside in! _

_You wonder what this has to to with the story? Because I have been feeling frustrated it has been poor Chris who got the blunt of my frustrations. _

_BE WARNED! This is not a nice chapter! Child abuse and sexual abuse on a minor no less! Don't read if it does not sit well with you._

_Brownie points to those that can tell at which part I have finally gotten my car._

* * *

When Wyatt orbed over to the forest Harriet lived in he was greeted by someone knocking him onto the forest floor. He fell over onto his backside and all the air in his lungs was pushed out with a puff. When he could see through the stars that were dancing in front of his eyes he looked over up at his brothers smiling face, Chris was sitting on his chest. Chris was slender but he wasn't slender enough that Wyatt could tolerate him on his chest.

"You are late," informed his captor.

"Get of me!" said Wyatt with difficulty as he tried to get himself up.

"As you wish," said Chris still smiling like a joker before he disappeared with a puff. Wyatt had no idea what to name this particular disappearance his brother had but a puff.

Apparently in the Catar Monastery there was a course on magical transportations where you learned about all of the different types of transportations and if you had the skill you also transported yourself with your choice of magic. The monastery did not label any form of transportation as light or dark as they were all neutral in their books. Meaning if something could not be weapon it would be neutral. Wyatt wanted to argue that but he did not have all the facts yet.

Chris could apparently do quite a bit, and Wyatt wondered what his Mum and aunts would say when they found out Chris shimmered because he thought it looked cool. To become a master of transportation as that is what it was called you apparently had to invent your own magical transportation. Not an easy task but Chris had informed him that there were only a handful of masters in the area.

Wyatt had inquired into whether Chris was a master or not and Chris laughed at him saying students were never masters. Wyatt was confused; 'puffing' as Wyatt had named it, was Chris's invention of transformation and Wyatt thought it was the silliest way of disappearing he had ever seen. Chris orbed when disappearing but he somehow made all the bubbles of the orb burst so it created a puffing noise and distracted the person and no one could possibly think that this was orbing. Chris told him that it was a way to disguise his orbing.

Wyatt had asked about where he had come up with the idea and had ended up watching a movie with Chris. Wyatt was never one for science fiction as he thought his life was fiction enough but since his brother he had come to live on the surface he had apparently became a science fiction junky and he had nicked the idea of the second x-men movie. Where there was a man who was able to disappear with a puffing noise.

'_Come on_,' he heard from his brother though the link before dragging himself up and making his way to Harriet's little house.

Wyatt walked into the house to see his brother lounging on the couch munching on cookies. He frowned he knew that his brother had just come from having breakfast at home and he was sure that their Mum had fed this guy enough sugar to be hyper for the rest of the day and here was Harriet feeding him more sugar.

At least they were feeling a little bit more comfortable with their link and were finding ways not to hear every thought that the other had or they in some cases they were becoming used to the other person consistently having a thought at the back of their minds. It was like having the radio on at the background when you worked and if there were songs you knew very well you tended not really hear them.

After they were done, Chris wanted to know if Wyatt would help him out with something.

Wyatt narrowed his eyes. He had learned the hard way in the last few days never to grant Chris a wish before knowing all that it entitled.

"We are going to go free some slaves," informed him Chris.

Wyatt agreed right away. Chris orbed them both to where they were going and Wyatt found himself in a place that was cold, dark and defiantly wet. After looking around he realized that they were in an aquarium.

"What are we doing here?" he questioned in a whisper, he was sure it was night time wherever they were and they probably shouldn't be there.

"We are here to free Prince," he started indicating the dolphin in the tank, "Princes and Matilda."

"But they are not slaves," said Wyatt feeling out of his depth.

At that Chris turned onto him and Wyatt saw and felt the anger roll of him and hit him as a ton of bricks and Chris grabbed him roughly and shimmered away.

When Wyatt could see he realized that they were in his own apartment back in San Francisco. He reminded quiet not knowing what to say and letting Chris led this discussion.

"Define what it is to be a slave for me?" said Chris pacing up and down the length of Wyatt's living room.

"Someone who is kept and worked against their will,"

"Someone forced to work for food?" asked Chris, and Wyatt could only nod his head, "how about if your owner decides when to feed you, or how much? Or how about you are not fed if you don't do well or better yet beaten or punished when you don't do what you are told?"

Wyatt suddenly had an inkling of where this was going, "Dolphins don't count," he said and suddenly found Chris standing just an inch from his face, when had he moved so fast?

"Why the hell not?" he whispered and Wyatt felt a chill travel up and down his spine, this Chris was dangerous.

Wyatt was not really sure if this was going to win the argument but he tired it anyway, "they are animals," he said.

"So it makes it OK that they are kept against their will?" asked Chris seeming to calm a tiny bit.

"I don't think that they would be able to tell the difference," suggested Wyatt.

"And if they could? Would you change your mind then?"

"If they were talking feeling creatures then I would be all for it, but…" he never got to finish his sentence before he was cut off.

"So it is only because you do not understand them that you consider them less than human? The fact they talk to one another has no meaning for you, however if they could talk that would make the whole difference." Apparently he was still angry.

"Well…" began Wyatt but he was cut off once again.

"Do you know that in most parts of the underworld humans are considered in the animal category?"

Wyatt could only look on as this was something he had never considered.

"So if they consider humans as animals they too could be kept as slaves after all if you are an animal you can hardly tell the difference between being free and being a slave," suggested Chris finally seeming to calm down a little. However he was wining this argument and Wyatt could see what he was getting at.

"I don't think their life is that bad?" tired Wyatt really believing that kept dolphins weren't really slaves.

"They are kept as SLAVES!" this argument did not seem to affect his brother or seemed to calm him as his anger flared once again as he heard Wyatt's thought as well.

"We can't save everybody and we can't possibly free everyone either, we won't be able to find the strength. Some we just have to let go," he suggested going at the argument from a different angle.

"Do you have any idea what it feels like to be slave," hissed Chris voice pure venom and suddenly Wyatt found himself being dragged into a memory. He was sure if Chris wasn't this emotional they would not be sucked into any memories.

_The first thing he noticed was that he was cold_…

No, these were not his memories. Harriet was working with them to separate the other person's memories from their own.

_He was freezing and bone tired. He did not want to move but knew he had to_…

What was it that she said, remember who you are!

_Every muscle in his body hurt, this was impossible… _

Wyatt Halliwell, You are Wyatt Mathew Halliwell he repeated and suddenly found himself separated from the feelings.

He was standing in an underground lair. Like many of the ones he had seen, it looked like this was some sort kitchen slash workroom and he saw something stir in the corner. It was like he was watching the scene as well as know exactly what was happening like he lived it. He knew what the other person was thinking, feeling and knew of the happenings around them. The sensation was one of the weirdest he had however it was not new; he had several of these experiences however never one to when Chris had been a slave.

_The almost ten year old slave boy woke up naked on the hard stone floor that he was sleeping on. As he lifted himself of the floor he stretched his neck trying to get the kinks out and moved his hands and arms trying to get some circulation into his frozen limbs. As a slave he was never given anywhere to sleep or any blankets or anything so he usually slept in the corner of his master's workroom which is where he was right then. His master was a lower level warlock that did odd jobs for other demons when he could get them._

_He was quite well off in terms of the underworld as he had his own lair which consisted of an inner sleeping and bathing chamber and a pretty big living room chamber and a separate workroom slash kitchen chamber. He could also afford a slave. _

_The slave had been with his master for four months and did many things for his master. On occasion his master gave him or rented him out to friends and colleagues to be used. Last three days he was given to a group of demons that his master owned a debt to and they had literally taken whatever they were due out of his hide. The slave was sore and his backside, jaw and throat hurt. He knew that he had been used for the benefit of his master but he never liked it much. _

_He was returned last night as that was the deal and he thanked whoever was out there that looked after slaves like him that his master had at least let him sleep instead of putting him to work right away. He was retuned naked as he was given naked (no need for clothes) and last night he did not have the energy to put on anything, he moved over to the chair where he had left his clothes neatly folded and got them on. He didn't own much and was grateful that his master preferred him clothed opposed to the nature's way as some other masters and mistresses liked. His last master had liked all his slaves that way._

_He put on his draw string pants that were couple of inches short on the ankles as he was growing at least in height for the last year but he was only given a new pair when the one he currently had was beyond repair, he figured he still had another four months or so to go with this pair. He noted that there was a new tear in one of the knees and made a mental note to patch it up. He also owned a long sleeved black shirt that once belonged to his master and was kind enough to give him. It was really big on him that he needed to roll the sleeves up but he didn't really care. He OWNED a shirt! He was bare foot as all the slaves in the underworld were._

_He was starving as he had not been fed the last three days except for… but he did not want to think about that. He didn't dare eat anything without his master approval. He looked at the sand timer in the workroom to figure out that his master would not be up for another hour at least. He looked around the workroom and saw the mess that his master had left since he was not there to clean up. Just because his master let him slack of the night before didn't mean he would be allowed the privilege today. He knew his master liked him to physically work to clean and tidy but he was still tired so he looked across the lair and could see his master sleeping and snoring so he decided to risk the chance. _

_He stood in the middle of the workroom and took a good look around then he closed his eyes and pictured the workroom. He lifted his arms and started to command the different things that were around the room to clean and then to reshelf themselves. A job that would have taken him at least a couple of hours was finished just under half an hour._

Wyatt was impressed. It was like watching a conductor conduct a silent orchestra and was amazed at the amount of skill his brother showed at telekinesis. He knew he would be hard pressed to do what Chris was doing at the age of ten with probably little or no training now when he was twenty-one.

_The little slave then physically set out to prepare breakfast for his master, his master always seemed to know if he used magic or not in preparing meals but could never tell on other things. There was not much to work with but he made do. He would have to go down to the demon market on Malek today if his master let him to resupply. _

_When he was done he moved to his masters sleeping chamber and filled the bathtub that was there and got the clothes his master was to wear and then kneeled next to the bed facing the bed. His master didn't even steer in his coming as a slave you learnt to move silently very early if you wished to live. After sometime his master began to stir and wake up. When he woke up he moved to the side of the bed and sat there. The slave moved over on his knees to kneel between his masters legs and took care of the problem that his master had every morning when he woke up. _

_When his master was done he got up and the slave rotated where he was on his knees to get the chamber pot that was by his master's bed. He held the pot as his master pissed in it and then put it back where it was. The pot just like many in the underworld was magiced to clean itself after use. It was one of the things that the slave was thankful for. _

_His master moved over to the bath and the slave rose gracefully to his feet and followed his master to the bath, he helped his master balance when getting in the tub and then proceeded to wash him. Afterwards he helped his master out of the tub and dried him with a towel as his master just stood there lifting his arm up or whatever was needed, the slave had to really reach up to dry his masters shoulders and hair as he was not yet tall enough for the task. He was grateful that his master did not mention that he was short and punish him for it this morning, it happened on occasion. When he was dry he held out the clothes his master was to wear and moved in front of his master to button his buttons for him. The whole time he had never looked up once from the floor or said a single word._

_He followed his master to the workroom where he had set up breakfast and after making sure that he was served he kneeled on the floor next to the chair. _

_When his master was done eating breakfast he said, "I want you to clean the rest of the lair and then there are six potions that I would like to be done before lunch," and he flamed out of the lair. The slave signed, he was not given the permission to eat so he cleaned up after his master looking at the left over's with longing before making them disappear with a wave of his arm._

Wyatt knew by instinct that the food had disappeared and would reappear in a low scum area of the underworld where it would grabbed by the people and demons that lived there. He could help be but impressed, here was a ten year old slave and Wyatt could feel the hunger that was crawling inside Chris as it were in him but Chris still made the leftovers disappear not to the garbage but somewhere where they would be appreciated even if they had no idea where they came from.

_The slave then moved through the lair cleaning and scrubbing the floors. He changed the sheets on this master bed and moved all the dirty laundry to the workroom where he would wash them later. _

_He grabbed the list of potions that his master wanted to be brewed and got to work. Because he was tired and sore he did not work as fast as he was used to, when his master came in the afternoon he was not satisfied with the amount of work he had put in so he was punished. One of the punishments his master enjoyed was using a paddle on his buttocks while he kneeled on all fours. He had the feeling that his master had chosen this particular punishment today as his backside was still very much sore and getting paddled fifty strokes on it definitely was beyond painful. If he had a choice he would have preferred getting the whipped or the punch in the stomach, he would have even chosen to hang from the ceiling by his wrist with his feet dangling in the air, which surprisingly was one of his least favorite punishments, but he never got to chose. _

_After the punishment which he thanked his master for caring, he was once again put back to work and later in the day when his master still wasn't satisfied he was punished by kneeling on the floor and receiving yet again another fifty strokes. He was in agony before the evening got there and moved with a limp because of the pain._

_Towards the evening his master accompanied him to the market place and he knew why. It was one of the days that his master didn't feel like paying for anything as he had probably gone out gambling and lost all the cash he had and he was bantering. He ended up giving six blow jobs and bending over twice before they had all the supplies they would need for the following week._

_After they went back to the lair he made and served his master dinner and was grateful when his master let him have the left over's._

_That night he was told to make sure to wash himself which he did with the help of a bucket in the workroom, as he was not allowed to use the bathtub his master had. After he washed himself with the freezing water that he was never allowed to heat as that would be a waste, he proceeded to wash the floor of the workroom._

_After he was done with everything he noted that he had put in a sixteen hour day and looked over to see his master snoring in his bed. The floor of the workroom was still damp from earlier use and he had washed his clothes as well and they were drying so he found a relatively dry corner of the room and curled up to get some much needed rest and tired to think warm thoughts as he shivered on the floor._

Wyatt was brought out of the memory like he was coming out of deep water and didn't have enough air and he could swear that someone had physically pushed him back. For a moment he looked around expecting to see the lair of the warlock and instead saw that he was in his own apartment.

He looked over to his brother and felt the bible rising in his throat. Without a word he turned around and raced to the bathroom where he proceeded to throw up everything he had ever eaten in his life. How could anyone live like that? More importantly how could anyone still laugh and joke around when they had memories like that? He felt like he would never he happy again.

He flushed the toilet and moved over to rinse his mouth and splashed his face.

"I am sorry," said Chris very quietly and Wyatt turned around to see him standing there at the entrance of the bathroom. Feeling the link he found it to be muted and almost dead and knew that it was Chris who was almost strangling the link to death.

"Why should you be sorry?" he asked very carefully as he reached for the towel to dry his hands and face.

"You shouldn't have had to see that, no one should be tainted by my memories," said Chris.

Wyatt looked over at this brother and felt out of his dept, despite fighting demons and foul beings all his life and visiting the underworld a million times he had never known there were beings that were forced into that lifestyle and knowing and seeing them he knew that it was considered normal for some parts of the underworld. On top pf it all it was his brother who had gone through this life. He had no idea what to say to the younger man but had at least needed to try.

"I know you don't believe me or that you won't but I am your brother, in fact your older brother and no matter how much I dislike seeing what you have gone through I really don't mind seeing and living through what you have. I hope that in time sharing these with me will at least give you a little ease with the nightmares." At that he saw that Chris's eyes get a bit wider.

Chris had not been aware that Wyatt had known about the nightmares. He always had nightmares as long as he could remember. He knew that despite his rough attitude and exterior Bruno was the one that took the fact he had nightmares the hardest. It had to do with the fact that Bruno always thought you could fight your enemies, but he was helpless when faced with an enemy he couldn't fight.

Chris knew that he had spent many nights trying to wake him when the nightmares had turned into night terrors. His powers would activate and he would find himself awake with Bruno thrown across the room to the other side and one memorable night when he had woken up to find it snowing in the outer chamber that he was sleeping in. Now he was keeping two people wake with his problems.

"I don't mind, I _really _don't mind," Wyatt repeated. However he knew he was not really getting through to Chris. He knew someone who could, their mother, but he knew that their relationship was still very new. And no matter what their mum would have loved to help Chris out and Wyatt knew she would have been successful however Chris was determined to make a good impression on her and did not want to let her know that he had problems. Wyatt knew that these things took time and was determined to help Chris to the best of his ability until he felt more comfortable to accept help from others.

Finally he came to a decision "Let's go and get Prince, Princess and Matilda," he said. If any creatures no matter whom and what they were felt an inch of what his brother had felt then they needed to be set free.

Chris grinned and Wyatt saw that some of the darkness retreat to the background and realized that he had made the right choice.

He only wished that they were not going to get into too much trouble for this and that they would not be exposing magic on top of breaking the law. He was sure that freeing dolphins was a felonry no matter which country they were in.

They orbed back into the aquarium and Wyatt almost jumped out of his skin when a voice out of the darkness asked, "where have you been? I have been waiting for over half an hour. I have better things to do with my life then save sorry life forms you know!"

He turned around to look into eyes that were definitely not human. Wyatt had never seen a (demon?) like this before, he was sure that the person he was staring at was not human. He would definitely be qualified as cute if one of the cousins had seen him. He had the cute boy look that all boy bands seemed to have, he had light brown hair and was tall and lean however he had fangs. Not like a vampires but he definitely had pointed front teeth with two fangs where a vampire would have them. He also seemed to have pointed eyes just like an elf would. But it was the eyes that gave him away, they were a great sparkling blue however he had the pupils of a cat; thin and slithered.

"See something you like human boy?" he asked with a sneer.

"Marcus play nice," came the warning from ahead of them where Chris was staring intently into the tank and the dolphins seemed to swim closer to him. He turned to them and he definitely had a look that said they were going to get into trouble. Marcus groaned, "man I really need to be back before midnight or my father will have my head, one for whatever trouble we are going to cause, two for being on the surface, you know he doesn't like it."

"Wyatt, this is Marcus. Marcus this is Wyatt," introduced Chris without seeing to hear Marcus. Wyatt noticed that while his family didn't like him to visit the underworld someone from there had the opposite reaction.

"Hi," was the only thing Wyatt could think of. He had never reckoned that Chris might have had friends, let alone demon friends. He himself never seemed to make and keep friends and he just had assumed that Chris had the same problems to connecting to people as he did. He was grateful that when Chris had reappeared in his life and he was more than happy to spend all his free time with Chris but now he noticed that Chris might have a life and he would like to spend more time with his friends and that he Wyatt might be hogging all his free time.

Marcus moved over to him and Wyatt could feel that this was no ordinary demon, he was at least upper level and powerful being however he was young. "Best friend," he sneered to him in a low voice and looked over to see if Chris could hear him and continued when he noticed that Chris was preoccupied with the dolphins, "and I have no intention of relinquishing my position as best friend, I worked for years to get his trust and I would not let it go without a fight."

Wyatt could only stare and he felt the anger in him rise. Chris was defiantly being a bad influence if he could be angered this quickly. "Well then you better not do anything to jeopardize it, like threatened his family," he suggested.

"Chris is special," said Marcus, "I will not let him get hurt," he promised, "especially by a family who let him be taken from them so carelessly."

Wyatt's heart gave a jolt when his family was blamed for his brother's disappearance, he knew he had been a child but he also felt a little bit guilty especially now with Chris's memory of a single day as a slave rattling around in his brain and his brother had been a slave for over six years. Marcus looked Wyatt in the eyes and Wyatt knew that he was serious. "I don't care if you are the twice-blessed and so and so, you hurt my friend and I will find a way to make you pay," he hissed.

Wyatt could only nod his head in response to such loyalty and love shown from a friend. He had seen the same attitude from Salek and Bruno and wondered just what it was that his brother had that made people want to die for him.

"I too will not anything let him hurt him, physically or emotionally," promised Wyatt looking the demon in the eyes and letting his power wash over the other being. The widening of the weird pupils was the only indication that Marcus had not only heard him but felt him as well.

"If you two are done pissing out your territories, let's get this show on the road," said Chris moving over to them and looking like he had heard every word they were discussing despite the fact they were trying to be quiet.

"Not going to apologize," said Marcus with a shrug and moving over to the tanks. "There are four dolphins here," he informed them, "you said we were going to free three therefore there is three of us, we need a fourth person," he said suddenly all business.

"Gina over here," Chris said indicating a dolphin, "likes it here. She has a purpose in life, she helps kids with terminal diseases be rehabilitated or at least have an incredible experience. She misses the sea but doesn't mind living in a tank when she can help children. She won't go," he informed them like it was natural to know what a dolphin thought and felt.

Wyatt turned to Marcus to see if he could explain it, "Don't look at me, I have given up years ago to question how he knows stuff. I just go with the follow."

With that Wyatt found himself following Chris up a group of steps and getting into a freezing pool of sea water. Chris swam out towards the middle of the pool where all three dolphins seemed to swim around him like he was a good friend and Wyatt wondered how Chris had come to know the dolphins.

Chris swam over to Wyatt with a dolphin in tow and introduced them, "this here is Matilda," he said while taking Wyatt's hands and placing them on the dolphin. He then proceeded to do the same to Marcus who was grumbling and complaining about it being too cold and getting wet.

"OK? Ready?" asked Chris and Wyatt suddenly found the instructions of where they were to orb appear in his mind. It was different then the link and realized that this is what Chris had told him about sending out commands and thoughts like he was thought to do at the monastery.

When Chris gave the OK he orbed himself and the dolphin to where Chris had told them to go and found himself somewhere where the sun was just rising on the horizon and they were close to a topical island. The dolphin let go off him to swim over to Chris and they all seem to be bumping into him and swimming by him touching him and Chris let out a laugh that was so full of joy that Wyatt knew that no matter what had happened they had done the right thing.

After another minute the dolphins swam away jumping as they went and Chris and Marcus started to swim for the shore and Wyatt followed them. As they reached the surf a struggle began between the two friends began as they tried to dunk each other under the water and splashed one another.

Wyatt felt like an outsider to happenings when Chris turned onto him with a mischievous look and Wyatt suddenly felt the water around him recline as something was pulling it away and he was hit by a wave from all sides. He came up spitting and splashing to find his brother laughing like a mad man and Marcus smirking at his predicament.

"If you don't know, you should, Derek here has a way with water. It tends to bend to his will, like many things in the universe so be careful when you are near water," he said as he helped Wyatt find his footing. Wyatt noted that along with having magic Marcus was physically stronger than a human as well as he seemed to pull Wyatt as he weighed nothing.

"If you boys are done playing you might want to come out and dry yourselves," someone said from the beach and they turned towards the beach.

"LARA!" shouted Marcus and made a mad dash towards her that had her turning and running away as he tried to give her a bear hug and wet her.

"Come," said Chris appearing by his side and leading him towards the beach where Lara had apparently thought of everything, there was a cooler with drinks and towels and dry clothes.

Wyatt couldn't help take his eyes of Lara who by far was the most beautiful girl he had ever laid eyes on. She had been caught and was being dragged screaming and kicking into the surf by Marcus. Suddenly Wyatt was very very glad that Chris had other friends and he settled down on a towel and accepted a cold beer from Chris and decided to take Marcus's advice to heart and go with the follow.

* * *

_Thank you those who have reviewed, added me to their favorites and alerts you make my day every time I see an e-mail._

_Next up finally some bonding with Leo._


	16. Chapter 16

Derek was standing in the back garden waiting for Mrs. Halliwell to come home. He had been coming for breakfast for the past five days. It was afternoon here San Francisco by the time he woke up in Istanbul. Despite the time difference, Piper had been delighted to start up the kitchen again to cook for him. She had informed him again and again that she did not mind making him breakfast.

The fact that she was the best cook he had ever met made the decision of whether or not to accept her invitation rather simple. This morning he had sensed that she was not in the house and had orbed to the back garden of the house instead. He was standing with his eyes closed turned towards the wind. He smiled at the smell of the ocean the breeze brought. It definitely had a different feel to it then the wind of the Himalayan Mountains or the wind of the Marmara. It felt both friendly and warm.

Spaced out, Derek jumped when he heard his father say, "hello," from behind him.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I thought that you would have sensed me," Leo said smiling as he tried to put Chris at ease. It had been a long time since he hadn't been detected by a magical being. He went on when he realized that Chris would not be speaking.

"Piper had to run to the restaurant, there was a problem with a shrimp order. She asked that I keep an eye on you," he said not really knowing what to say to his son.

"Oh, that's ok, I can always go and come back another time when it is more convenient for her," his son replied.

"NO!" Leo said, startling them both with his intensity. Piper had left clear instructions that Chris was not leave and if Leo failed in this simple task he knew that he would be sleeping on the couch.

"Piper asked that you wait for her," he told Chris.

Derek nodded his head not really knowing what to say, his limited social interactions for these type of situations prevented him from beginning a conversation.

It was Leo that ended the awkward silence.

"What were you doing before I interrupted?"

Derek looked away before answering, "Listening to the wind," he said without explaining further. He was weird enough even when he was living in a magical community, his parents didn't have to know just how weird.

Leo smiled liking the fact that there was a bit of him in Chris. "I know a great place where you can listen to the wind," he suggested to his son.

At that he saw that he had Chris's attention as his eyes meet his with a questioning look.

"Can you orb to where I want to go?" asked Leo instead of telling him where to go.

"Orb you where you want to go?" repeated Chris obviously confused.

"It's a whitelighter ability," said Leo as he moved towards his son. Instructing was a comfort zone for him and it came easily. He hoped that if he acted like a teacher, something his son was familiar with, Chris would feel more at ease with him. "You need to have physical contact with the person as well," he indicated that he wanted to touch him and received a tiny nod in response.

He tired to ignore the tiny flinch that came from Chris as he touched him on the forearm.

"Now it is easier if you close your eyes for the first few times," he said and watched as Chris gave him one last look before closing his eyes. Leo smiled at the trust he was showing him by closing his eyes in his presence.

"Just focus on where I want to go, you should be able to feel it if you concentrate on my presence which you should be able to feel," he told him and saw that Chris was frowning and then nodding his head as he got what he was looking for.

"I can feel you but not really where you want to go," he told him.

"That will be easier in time. Eventually, you will be able to see and know where the other person wants to go," said Leo before continuing, "try it out."

They reappeared at the other side of the garden and Leo saw Chris open his eyes and look around. He was disappointed to see how small a distance they had moved.

"We are still in the garden," he said the disappointment coming through his voice as well.

Leo couldn't help but laugh, "I wasn't going to ask you to orb us to the middle of the ocean on your first go. Now let's try again," he suggested before he felt the orbs again. Chris was a fast learner and impatient as well. These were two traits that Leo had already become familiar with.

This time they found themselves in the attic of the manor and Leo noticed that Chris had a slight smile on his face from his success.

"Well done," said Leo and saw his son blush at the compliment.

"Now let's orb to where we really want to go," Leo continued and the duo orbed once again.

He was ready for anything as they reappeared on top of the Golden Gate Bridge. His hand that was touching Chris became a supporting one when Chris opened his eyes to take in where they were.

"Whoa," was his first comment, taking a small step back. When he came to his senses the only thing he could think of was "Wow," he said in awe.

He looked around and down and then, "Can anyone see us?" he asked and Leo had a moment of déjà vu.

_(Not me, but you look like a lunatic standing up here talking to yourself.)_

He said what he should have been able to tell Chris years ago, "a lot of people don't usually stare at the top of the bridge however a simple cloaking spell will work just fine."

Chris nodded his head once and muttered a few words that were too low to hear and he felt magic envelop him as well and knew that he was cloaked too.

He saw Chris looking at him waiting for further instructions and once again found himself thinking about twenty-ones years earlier, this time repeating his instructions from long ago. At the time he had thought he was instructing a cocky young whitelighter, not his son. The experience would have meant so much more to him if he had known who Chris was then. Who knew that he would be granted the same experience twice?

"Just close your eyes and rely on your inner senses" he told him and watched as Chris turned towards the wind and closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Listen to the wind," back then he had closed his own eyes and had gone with the flow. If he had the knowledge he now possessed he was sure he would have done what he was doing right now and watch his son like a hawk trying to memorize each and every one of his features.

By a turn of fate Chris was even dressed like he had been all those years ago in black pants, a black t-shirt that was underneath his long sleeved grey t-shirt. However this Chris was better groomed then his counterpart. Leo could tell that he had shaved that morning and his hair had been brushed, although the wind was making quick work of that effort.

Leo was ready to catch Chris and he had his hands on either side of him— not quite touching him. He knew what would happen when Chris made contact with the others. After all, he had prior knowledge of what was going to happen. He had never thought that the Chris from the past would have made contact required for 'listening.'

'Listening was the name of the ability they were working on and it was rare among whitelighters. Leo knew that Chris would be able to hear something.

He was right when after a moment Chris let out a surprised yelp and moved back by instinct. Thankfully, Leo was prepared and caught him.

"Easy," he said and saw that Chris had a look of wonder on his face.

"You can find the answer to most questions up here if you know what to listen to. Or you could just listen to everything around you."

Chris looked over at him, "I always thought that I was a little…" and there Chris stopped and Leo prompted him with a "you thought what?" he asked gently.

"Weird," came the nervous confession, "there is no wind in the underworld so when I came to the surface for training everyone thought it was really weird for me to actually hear the wind," he said.

Leo picked up the conversation not wanting it to come to a halt, "I have to confess that it is not a common ability amongst whitelighters as well," he said.

At Chris's unsure look he elaborated. "I have always had the ability to listen to the wind and hear those in need. It has been one of my unique gifts as whitelighter."

Looking at his son he knew that what he was talking about had hit its mark. Leo had known that the gift was rare and only a few whitelighters had it. In fact Wyatt not only didn't have this ability, but he never was very fond of heights as well. So it had been years since Leo had been up on the bridge.

"You are a 'listener'," his son informed him.

Leo smiled, Chris was rather knowledgeable. "Not quite. I have the ability but it is not enough for me to be an actual listener."

'Listeners' as they were known were whitelighters with the ability to hear the elements. They were the ones that meditated around the world in their chosen places and heard those in need or the problems a demon was about to cause. They passed the knowledge onto the Elders who then passed it along to the appropriate whitelighter to tell their charges and coordinate an assault, rescue or whatever was needed. It was one of the ways Leo had always learned that there was a new threat on the horizon. They were not seers as they did not see what was to come but heard what was occurring. A true listener was also known as a "master of the present."

Leo had never thought that this would be an ability that he would pass down to one of his children. He smiled at his son, showing him how proud he was that Chris had inherited something that was his.

"It seems you have inherited my ability to listen. The amount of things you hear might increase as you grow older. You may become a full listener or stay like me. I just have a good ear for those in need. Even now you should be able to hear those that are in need and call out for help."

Derek nodded his head, this is how he had heard Princess, Prince and Matilda. They had been calling out for help. He braved a question, after all there were not many people in the monastery that could help him with this ability and although Salek had explained what it was to him he could not understand what it was like to hear a call for help and not answer it.

"How does it work?" he asked and before he knew it he was asking other questions. "Do you always hear those that are in need? What happens if you ignore the ones that call out to you? Does everyone hear the same cries for help?"

"Easy, easy, one question at a time," at that he saw that Chris was embarrassed but not really looking down. This must be what his tutors had to put up with, Leo still remembered the persistent four year old who asked nonstop questions.

"I don't really know how it works but I can get in contact with a few whitelighters who do if you want more information," at that he looked over at Chris who was nodding his head.

"I don't know how vast your ability is, however, you will hear those that are close to your heart. Meaning you will hear those that you actually want to hear."

Derek nodded his head, after all it was not the first time he had heard slaves call for help. However, it was rare that he got slaves away without too many things blowing up or a lot of bloodshed. He looked over at his father and saw that he was patiently waiting for him to finish his thought process. He nodded his head once again indicating that he was listening.

"I am told that if you ignore the calls of sometime your ability to listen will diminish and then stop all together. So if you really don't want the ability you can ignore the calls and after a while you won't hear them any longer," he finished but the look of horror on his son's face was enough to tell him that Chris would never stop listening.

"But if you stopped listening then that would mean you would not hear the laughter as well," he said still looking scandalized.

Leo couldn't help but smile, "bad things usually go hand in hand with the good. For every call of help there is the laughter of a child also caught in the wind. That is how the balance is kept, if you don't want the bad then you have to give up the good as well," he told his son.

He saw that Chris was smiling at him, "you sound like Salek," and then suddenly he looked around like he heard someone.

"I swear I just heard Mrs. Halliwell call my name," he said still looking around as if he expected to see her appear on the top of the bridge.

"She is probably back at home and looking for you. This is also a whitelighter ability. To be able to hear your charges," he began but was cut off before he could finish the explanation.

"But Mrs. Halliwell is not my charge," came the protest.

"No, she is not. But, she is your mother so in a way she is connected to you beyond what magic and logic can explain. In time you will be able to hear other members of your family as well. I know Wyatt, Paige and Henry can hear everyone in the family so I believe you will also be able to hear everyone eventually," Leo explained.

Chris was still looking around like he expected Piper to appear. He smiled a little smile, "she sounds like she is here."

"Let's go back before she starts screaming like a banshee," suggested Leo when Chris looked mortified at what he was suggesting he added, "believe me you don't want hear her call for you when she is angry."

He couldn't help the shudder that went through him as he remembered the times that Piper had called out to him when angered.

Seeing his father's look of fear Derek decided that he would never keep his mother waiting. He reached out and before he made contact with Leo, looked up at him asking for permission to touch him. At Leo's nod of confirmation he touched him on the arm and orbed them both back to the foyer of the manor. He had sensed that Mrs. Halliwell was in the living room and he thought that the foyer would be a good choice.

When they appeared they saw that Piper was calling out for him and that she was looking around the house as opposed to shouting at the ceiling.

When she saw them she gave a brilliant smile, "Oh, there you are. I was wondering where you were. I was getting worried."

Chris gave her a shy smile, "Mr. Halliwell was teaching me to listen to the wind," her son said, like it was the most natural thing in the world. Suddenly he turned back to Leo, "can Salek hear me as well when I call out to him?"

"He should," replied Leo not really happy that Salek came up twice in their conversation. He pushed the feeling aside knowing that he was not only Chris's lighter, but somewhat of a father to the boy.

"Just think of him and then call out to him. You really don't have to say his name out loud but you can just think it. It might be easier in the beginning if you spoke aloud." He instructed his son. Piper on the other hand had never gotten out of the habit of calling for others out loud.

Chris still looked doubtful but called out, "Salek?" in a questionable voice.

After a second the lighter appeared in black orbs in their foyer, "you rang?" inquired Salek, taking in the manor and the parents standing around. His charge hadn't sounded like he was in distress.

"Cool!" was the comment Derek made with a smile and it was Leo Wyatt that answered Salek's inquiring look.

"We were just trying out some of his whitelighter abilities," he said.

Salek nodded, "I wouldn't give into Derek too much if I were you, in terms of knowledge, I mean," he said with a smile, "you give him a hand and you usually end up losing an arm."

He totally ignored the stare that Derek was throwing his way. It was Piper who decided to move things along.

"Well let's move this along to the kitchen shall we," she said. Then addressing herself to Salek she said, "you are welcome to join us if you wish."

Salek had no intention of joining the Halliwell's for breakfast but after one look at his charge who was managing to pull off a begging puppy dog look, Salek found himself agreeing to stay.

He found out that Piper Halliwell was a great chef and she was making her way into Derek's heart through his stomach which wasn't very difficult. Derek ate anything that had sugar spread over it and he could do with putting on a few kilos.

They were eating their way through a monstrous breakfast when they all heard orbs somewhere in the house followed by a voice.

"Hey, why do I smell breakfast in the afternoon?" the question was followed by the younger Charmed sister walking into the kitchen and Paige stopped in her tracks when she took in who was in the kitchen.

"Hello," she said directing her comment to her nephew. It was Leo who pulled himself together.

"Derek, this is your aunt Paige, Piper's youngest sister," he introduced, "Paige, this here is Derek."

"Yeah, we kind of meet," said Paige smiling at Chris trying to put him at ease.

Derek reflected back to the day that he had run into apparently his aunt in the attic. "Yeah, sorry about that," he told her and with that turned around to the patriarch of the family.

"I guess I never apologized for using the Book of Shadows without permission. So please accept my apologies for intruding into your home."

Piper smiled at her son, "the book belongs to you as much as it belongs to everyone in this family and you are welcome to it any time you wish, as well into _your _home." She said emphasizing the word 'your' to let it be clear that they thought Chris belonged in their home.

Chris game them all a big smile while looking down in a way pulled at Leo, Piper and Paige's heart strings as they were all reminded of another Chris from years ago.

"Thank you," was all he said.

Paige sat herself down on the chair that was next to Chris' and eyed his plate, "is this a banana tostie you have here? Let me help you out," with that she promptly reached out and grabbed a tostie off his plate and bit into it with a 'mmm'.

"Why did I ever get married?" she questioned between bites, "why did I ever move out of the manor?"

Piper and Leo were worried about their son's reaction but found out that they didn't need to be, he was smiling at her.

"Here try this, it is out of this world," Chris said before giving her something else of his plate.

Before anyone knew it they were talking and laughing as if Chris had been raised in the manor. Piper was worried about how their son was going to react to the rest of the family but it looked like he was doing fine with everyone but her and Leo. She knew Wyatt and him were doing great and he had met all his cousins and they had gotten along fine. Now here he was meeting Paige and they were laughing like they always had an easy relationship. For a moment she felt an intense jealously towards everyone who had an easy relationship with her son.

Her son turned towards her with a frown, "what's wrong?" he asked.

She looked over at him puzzled, so he decided to elaborate, "you're feeling a strong emotion all of a sudden but I'm not sure what it is," he said.

It was Paige that jumped to the conclusion, "you are an empath!"

She gave a squeak of joy, "Phoebe is going to love this! She was so worried that no one in this family had inherited her gift!"

At that Piper turned to her son, "you are an empath?" she asked, if that was the case he would have felt everything that they had been feeling in the last two weeks since they had met him.

"I have the ability," Derek said and at the look of horror on his parents face decided to elaborate further. "However, I know how to block people out and Millie has been making me a strong blocking potion for the last two weeks."

After a moment he continued, " Master Narkey at the monastery says that I need to stop taking the potion otherwise it will break through the blocks and I'll suffer the backlash but…" he trailed off there not knowing what to say or why he said anything in the first place.

It was Paige that picked up on what he had meant and quickly thought of a solution. She reached over and patted Chris on the knee; the people in the kitchen were amazed that he had received physical contact from a person so easily. "Don't worry, we have our own blocking potion so you don't have to use one, we just haven't used it in a while since Phoebe has her power under control but I'll whip it up in a jiffy for the whole family and you can stop whatever you are taking. Of course this would mean that you won't be able to get a read off of the family but I know from Phoebe that family usually has the strongest feelings."

At that Chris looked relieved and turned to fully face his aunt, "thank you," he said. "It has been difficult not getting a read off of people and then to have…" he trailed off and everyone in the kitchen noticed.

Piper was about to apologize yet again when they saw Chris stiffen and look worried.

"What's wrong?" Piper asked.

"Something is wrong with Wyatt, he is really worried," Chris answered and then immediately after they saw Wyatt orb into the kitchen. He looked terrified.

"I can't find Melinda!" Wyatt exclaimed.

_

* * *

Hello all, this chapter has been edited before official release: July 17th, 2010 by Piper Julian who has graciously has agreed to Beta this story and hopefully make it more pleasurable to read with less grammar mistakes._

_Previously released chapters are in the process of being Betaed but no plots changes are being made. This is strictly to address spelling/grammar issues. If you notice any significant errors that have not been addressed in chapters that HAVE been edited please let Piper Julian (user id: 642814; current beta) know so they can be corrected or just mention it in a review. Thanks!_

_Also the memories Leo is remembering are from the episodes in season 6, Little Monsters and Prince Charmed._

_Thx. for reading!_


	17. Chapter 17

Derek was impressed at how quickly the Halliwells could get organized and begin to search for information. The entire family had assembled into the living room which apparently was the meeting place as the attic could no longer fit this many people.

His little sister was supposed to have been picked up by Wyatt and brought home. However, the teacher saw her being picked up by Piper Halliwell… which meant Melinda was now at the mercy of an imposter.

They had very little to go on and only one book to look through. Although the Book of Shadows was impressive, Derek had noted that it lacked a lot of information. It did not reference specific fighting styles, clan affiliations or known hangouts.

The family had to rely on scrying, which generally didn't do much considering most of their opponents were now smart enough to cloak themselves.

Henry, who was on good terms with the Elders, had orbed up there to ask them what they knew. He came back saying that this could be the work of a new upper level demon that was trying to organize the underworld. Unfortunately, this threat had many demons that worked for him.

Salek had snorted at that information.

"Do you have something to add to the conversation?" asked Phoebe.

Derek had decided that whilst he liked his Aunt Paige, he knew that he would love Phoebe. She had taken to him and Salek quite well and had adjusted to their constant presence in stride and put them both to work like they had always been part of the household. Derek had seen Salek trying to hold in his amusement at being ordered about.

"This nonsense about trying to organize the underworld is just a tale told to scare you into working quicker. Do you know just how vast the underworld is?" Salek asked them.

"We have been there more than enough to know," came the reply from Prue.

"No, you have only been to the edges of the underworld. You've seen where the scum and the insane live. They foolishly try to take over the underworld. Well, let me tell you now that that is impossible," he said getting worked up for some reason that Derek could not understand.

"Why is it impossible?" asked Penny, clearly confused.

Salek looked over at her and then took in the rest of the room. Perhaps they never knew or were never told. "Just think of it this way: if someone tried to take over the surface world, would it be possible to do so with maybe five hundred magical beings backing him up?"

"Of course not, you would need an army of millions to take over the world," said one of the twins.

"And a power base," said the twice-blessed looking thoughtful. After his comment, Salek noticed the elder members of the family tense like they were afraid he might attempt it. There was definitely something there to look into later.

"Exactly, you need some serious fire power, time and resources to take over the surface. And, you can't take over through force alone. Some people will need to be persuaded to join you of their own free will, which means your leader must be rather charismatic."

"You seem to be very knowledgeable about the whole concept; tried it a few times yourself?" asked Paige sarcastically.

Salek smiled, "Alexander was one of my first charges as whitelighter back in the day."

"Alexander the Great?" asked someone in the room.

"Was he a witch?" asked someone else.

"His mother was one, he had very minimal powers," this explanation came from Leo which caused all the members of the family to look at him in shock.

He shrugged as he gave an explanation, "what? It is basic knowledge given to whitelighters… of what not to guide your charge to do," he said while looking at Salek.

"And that is why in the last millennia no light power has risen to be written in history," claimed Salek.

"What does this all have to do with organizing the underworld?" asked Pandora.

"The underworld is as vast as the surface world, not just anyone could organize it or unite it with power. They could gather a group of demons to stir up trouble both on the surface and under it but never get far without a lot of people noticing," he explained carefully.

It was Piper who put a stop to the conversation by getting up from where she was looking through the book and throwing her hands up in the air, "Can we please just focus on the fact that my daughter is MISSING?"

With that she looked around and frowned, "Where is Wyatt?"

"And where is Derek?" came from Leo who now noticed that both his sons were missing.

"I can't sense Wyatt," said Paige.

"Which means that he is in the underworld," concluded Phoebe.

They all turned to look at Salek who had his eyes closed. "They are both in the underworld but I cannot pinpoint their exact location, excuse me," he said and with that he orbed out.

"Well that's just great!" exclaimed Piper. "Now I have worry about all of my kids!"

Meanwhile, in the underworld…

After quietly disappearing from the manor, Derek appeared somewhere under the American Plateau. He wasn't familiar with this part of the underworld as he had been raised in the midlands which were under the European Plateau and in the Asian part of the underworld.

However he knew enough about the geography from the many books he had read to know where to go. If you orbed into the underworld without any knowledge of where you wanted to go you would still be looking for information years later. It was almost like searching for a needle in a haystack. The thought made him pause… why would you search for a needle when you could just conjure a new one?

He orbed close to one of the towns that was located under the west coast. Once there, he probed the mind of the first demon that he came across and found the location of a bar that demons who had the power to go to the surface liked to hang out. His probing power was limited to say the least. It was an extension of his empathy, he could only read surface thoughts.

Derek knew that the bar was a long shot, but if anyone there had gotten their hands on a Charmed One's child they would be bragging about it. Alcohol even made demonic lips loose. He might even be able to get secondhand info on what had happened if he got lucky.

As he started to move towards the bar he noticed Marcus move from out of the darkness and fall into step with him. He only spared him a glance, if he wanted to tag alone who was he to argue. When they got to the bar they realized they couldn't get in. Despite its bad reputation and basically having the scum of the world as inhabitants, some places in the underworld had stricter rules than the surface world which meant if you had not come of age you could not walk into a bar. Unfortunately, coming of age was not based on actual age but their ability to overcome trials.

Derek had yet to take his trials, they were at least a year away. Furthermore, Marcus despite being ten years Derek's senior, was still considered young for his species and had a few years to go before he attempted his own trials. He had completed his ten years in the monastery including his mingling year. He had returned to his family, which happened to be a very powerful demon clan that lived in their own region under the pacific. Marcus was one of the younger members of his family which meant he was free to choose what he wanted to do with his life. He could come and go as he liked… but that did not change the fact that he had a very overprotective father.

His father had met Derek and had approved of their friendship; they had even gotten Marcus' grandmother's blessing who was an Elder for the clan as well as one of the Elders Salek always talked about.

They stood outside of the bar and watched those who came in and out. Derek was probing everyone that went by looking for anyone who had heard about Melinda's abduction. After half an hour of waiting, they were joined by Lara. No words were said in greeting.

Finally Derek took off after a demon with the duo following. They cornered the demon in a small corner cavern. When the demon fell to his knees in pain, they were interrupted by a, "What do you think you are doing?"

They turned to find Wyatt standing there behind them, Derek silently lifted an eyebrow, Wyatt had invisibility as a power. So that is how he had been tracking them and one - cool and two he hadn't realized that they were hiding powers from one another.

"Whoa! Well done human boy!" said Marcus, "There aren't a lot of people who can trail us without our knowledge." He turned to look at Lara and Derek and his face fell when he realized that Derek had probably known about his brother all along.

"If he wanted to trail us without letting himself be seen who are we to argue?" Derek said.

"Not my fault that you muted our link and then decided to come to the underworld like some superhero," retorted Wyatt.

"Has it occurred to you that there might have been a reason that I did not want you to tag along," suggested Derek.

"No," said Wyatt like that explained everything, "I would like to be part of anything you are doing to help find Mel," he said. "And before you say anything else, what exactly are you doing?"

Derek examined him for a minute before turning his attention back to the demon in the cavern. The demon once again let out a piercing scream of agony.

Wyatt moved forward and angrily repeated, "what are you doing?"

"This one knows something," stated Derek and the demon once again writhed in agony.

"You haven't asked him anything!" exclaimed Wyatt. He pitied the demon and looked to Lara for support. He noticed that she was standing at the back of the cavern protecting the way out but putting no effort into really stopping what was happening.

Derek rolled his eyes and turned towards the demon, "what do you know about the disappearance of Melinda Halliwell?" he asked.

"I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!" The terrified demon responded.

Derek turned back to Wyatt like this explained everything, "See? No one ever fesses up before the real pain sets in," he said before turning back to the demon. This time he noticed his brother move his hands and with that gesture they could all hear bones crack. The demon gave another scream of pain.

"Stop it!" said Wyatt.

At that Derek turned back to him and Wyatt took a step back, this was the part of his brother that he had glimpsed at in his apartment couple of days ago, dangerous and dark. "If you do not want to be here then I suggest that you orb back to the surface," advised his brother.

It was then that Marcus decided to step in knowing all about what Derek could do and decided to help the Twice Blessed, who he surprisingly liked. Derek's relationship with his older brother was still too shaky for Wyatt to have any chance at stopping Derek at something he put his mind too. Marcus also knew that his best friend could be stubborn when he wanted to be and he had a feeling that this was a family trait.

He moved over to the demon who was softly crying. Sometimes Marcus disliked how pathetic his brethren could be despite the fact they were not really the same species, he was supposed to be a demon! He bent over him like he was sharing a secret with a close friend.

"If I were you, I would tell us everything you know. I for one don't care what happens to you. But, see my friend over there?" he indicated Derek with a tilt of his head. "He learned all he knows about torture from Damon Lombardi," he said and saw the demon's eyes widen as he recognized the name.

Derek spared Wyatt a look before he turned back to the demon with a dangerous smile. He had picked up on what Marcus was trying to do, "I have to say I am little rusty with my skills, you see not a lot of people will let me practice them," he said this time indicating Wyatt. "I might miss a target and hit something I am not supposed to," he said and with a hand gesture the demon was back on the floor withering in pain.

"Okay, okay," cried the demon. Wyatt backed away to where Lara was standing and let his brother have his way for the time being. With the name 'Damon Lombardi' he had had a flash of images come through the almost strangled link.

_A child stood in the back of the room watching a demon spasm in pain…_

_A man was instructing how to make people suffer…_

_Hands that guided his to show him how to squeeze the heart telekinetically…_

_A knife that went over his chest carving runes that burned…_

Wyatt looked over as the demon started talking.

"There was an attack on the Charmed Ones today. They took one of their children, there was a bunch of scavenger demons bragging about it at the bar earlier." The demon stopped there to see if this satisfied the maniac but continued to talk faster when he saw him raise his hands. He had heard of what Damon Lombardi did to those that didn't talk when they had the chance.

"They work for a demon named Mr. X. He visits bars to find people who can go to the surface. He goes on and on about how it is our right to live on the surface and how he should be free to come and go as we wish," now that the demon was talking he couldn't seemed to stop.

"He also talks about us having human slaves. About how they should be given to us for free and how we should be able to just pick the one we want off of the street," with that he licked his lips as if imagining tasting his own slave and suddenly let out a scream of pain.

"I'm talking, I'm talking," he said trying to back away from Derek. Wyatt could see that his right knee was broken in addition to his hand. His brother could cause so much pain, so quickly!

It was Marcus who once again spoke to the demon, "in case I forgot to mention, he is human. If I were you, I would not mention wanting a human slave."

The demons eyes widened further, "he's human?" he asked, terrified. Wyatt thought that there was nothing about Chris at that moment that made him seen human.

Wyatt's arm was grasped by Lara's hand who looked at him with understanding in her eyes. "It's a phase," she whispered for his ears only. "It will pass once it is out of his system. The man you saw with the dolphins the other day is more of who Derek is then the man who is in this cavern right now."

She looked over at Derek who was asking the demon some more questions. The demon was letting out a constant stream of agonized cries as Derek didn't seem satisfied with the majority of his answers.

"Think of it this way," Lara said before moving back to her corner, "this is who he was raised to be and the man you met on the beach is who he is meant to be. These personality changes are difficult for even for us to cope with. How do you think he copes with the whole situation?"

The demon finally gave up some vital information, "there is a man you have to go see if you want to join the cause. He tells you where to go and that's all I know I swear."

"Who is the man and where can I find him?" asked Derek icily. After getting the directions from the demon they left him crying and sniffling in the cavern.

"Shouldn't we have at least helped him?" asked Wyatt as he followed Chris down dark corridors.

"No," said Derek, "he would have fucked you without a second thought if he could manage it and then he would have shared you with his friends." A look of disgust passed his face, "the sick bastard is lucky that I let him live."

One of the down sides of probing was that you tended to see things you did not want to know and he had been probing the demon even as he gave his answers. A gift from his second master, you always knew if your subject was lying or not.

They came to a stop in another cavern and Wyatt felt quite lost already. "So what is our next move?" he asked. If it were up to him he would have orbed to the surface and told his family what they found out but he had a feeling that by the time he came back, Chris would be long gone.

"We go to the demon that is doing the recruiting and get the location of their base," suggested Marcus.

"And guess who gets to play the 'I-want-to-kill-some-humans' role?" she asked and then shimmered away before anyone could answer her.

At Wyatt's questioning look, Chris answered him through the link. _'She is of age. If we go they would not give out any information because we are still basically considered children and you are human.'_

With that Wyatt got the whole silent explanation of trials and coming of age in the underworld. Basically, you could not do practically anything in the underworld until you came of age without your parents or guardians' approval. That explained why the Halliwells had never run into any child demons or even adolescent demons but always full grown demons.

"How does someone know if a demon or a person has come of age in the underworld?" he asked aloud to address both Marcus and Chris.

"Tattoos," said Marcus like that explained everything, "have you ever noticed that demons seem to be covered in them?" he asked and went on without waiting for an answer.

"Almost all of the tattoos are enchanted, even if you have no powers in the family to enchant them, there are witches in every city and town that are willing to mark your offspring with your mark at birth as well as when they come of age. Many places have simple detection spells that detect an underage demon as they walk into the place."

He revealed his right shoulder to Wyatt to show him his family mark which was a collection of strange looking runes. He also showed him his left shoulder where the mark of the Catar Monastery was located, showing that he had been a student. Wyatt wondered if his brother's left shoulder supported a similar tattoo but was reluctant to ask. Chris always seemed to favor long sleeves and Wyatt was afraid of what they actually hid.

Marcus looked Wyatt over before adding, "That was the reason why we did not walk into that bar," he said. "Also, an underage demon cannot sign up for a cause, that is also reserved for demons or people who have come of age." He concluded. Moments later, Lara shimmered back.

"I got the place, let's go," she said and with that, the quartet left.

They appeared in the corner of large cavern, there were at least forty demons of different kinds sitting around basically doing nothing. They would have gone unnoticed if a cry of "Wyatt" hadn't alerted every single one of them to their presence. Melinda was in a cage on the opposite side of them and she looked relatively unharmed. She had only given them away.

Within minutes they found themselves in a battle to the death. There were demons coming at them from every single angle. More seemed to show up from other chambers but if they had known who was in the cavern they would have thought twice about rushing into the action.

Wyatt noticed that Derek, Marcus and Lara must have been in a situation like this before or at least had been trained to fight in close quarters with their powers. They quickly found the middle of the cavern where it seemed that they gave the demons the advantage. But they covered each others' back and killed any demon that got close to them.

Despite having demons to deal with, Wyatt couldn't help but note the trio's fighting capabilities. It was clear that Derek was their prime power and that Lara and Marcus had been trained to fight around him, meaning neither Marcus's or Lara's actions hindered Derek's fire power.

Marcus could throw fireballs and was physically the strongest member of the group. If anyone came close enough to fight hand to hand, it would be him that took care of the threat. The group could change places faster than the eye could see. A demon who charged Lara suddenly had Chris in front of him to deal with instead.

Chris could throw fireballs, energy balls and also telekinetically threw demons out of the way. He also conjured athames and had them impaled into a demon before his opponent had the chance to blink. What frightened Wyatt was Chris' ability to telekinetically manipulate the fire he conjured. With a gesture of his hand fire would appear and engulf the demon as it flung him away. It was beautiful to watch as an arch of fire formed around the movement. On occasion, even the athame he threw would be covered in flames.

Lara was also a very capable fighter. Wyatt noted that she could give his aunt Phoebe a run for her money in the martial arts department. She also had a very impressive mastery over energy balls. Demons who underestimated her were quickly dealt with.

Wyatt took sadistic pleasure in killing the demon who called himself Mr. X. He probably got the name from the X that was located on his forehead.

'_Stupid – who would want to have a letter on their forehead?_' Chris asked over their link. Wyatt was shocked at his younger brother's ability to fight and keep an eye on him at the same time.

'_I__don't need a babysitter,'_Wyatt responded through the link, _'never had one before and don't need one now'_

'_In that case – FOCUS! A demon is sneaking up behind you!'_

Sure enough, when Wyatt turned around he saw the demon and quickly killed him with a well placed energy ball.

'_Thanks, bro.'_and he turned his attention to the now deceased Mr. X. The upper level demon had died screaming that he could not be killed that and how he was the next source. The fool hadn't realized that he was up against a very pissed off Twice Blessed witchlighter who also doubled as a very over protective brother. The demon probably should have taken more time to research how large a threat the Halliwell family was before abducting one of them.

Before long there was a single unidentified demon left in the cavern and Wyatt saw that Chris, Marcus and Lara were very slowly circling the demon and moving in on him. Wyatt orbed into help with the circle. When he saw a chance he took it and before anyone else realized he had an energy ball charged in his hand.

He saw that both Lara and Chris were frozen in place and he heard a loud _'No!' _through the link as well as aloud from Marcus before the energy ball hit the demon.

The demon burst into a ball of energy expanding outwards that had everyone diving out of the way. Wyatt felt the energy go though him. When he got up from the floor he saw the look of murder on Marcus's face and managed a sheepish smile whilst saying "oops?"

He looked over at this brother and felt nothing but amusement radiating through the link. A quick look at Marcus revealed nothing but pure irritation.

"Oops is right, human boy! Oops is right!" Marcus said shaking his head. After a huff, he broke into a smile himself.

_Edited before official release: July 20th, 2010.

* * *

_

_Well there you have it people (I hate author notes – but keep finding myself adding them!)  
I had set out this chapter to be a bonding chapter between Derek and Melinda after a suggestion from Nikki sorry Nikki it didn't happen but I swear my characters have minds of their own. Marcus who was never supposed to have even make an appearance in this story decided that he had to show up and Lara decided that she couldn't let boys go of on their own – who knows what mischief they would get up to. And Wyatt decided that if everyone was going he was not staying on the surface!_

_Also gave serious thought to killing Melinda after having several request (sorry Jane and Tina) but I have to say the characters in this story cannot take the emotional happenings that losing a child would bring. Piper has always been my favorite character (after Chris of course) and I cannot be cruel to her for her to gain one child then to turn around and lose the other one so sorry once again but Mel stays. _

_The next chapter is on the way – can anyone guess what Wyatt did?_


	18. Chapter 18

"What did I do?" asked Wyatt.

"That was a power sucking demon, otherwise known as a leech demon," came the explanation from Lara.

"Power sucking demon?" asked Wyatt, having never heard of them.

"Yeah, they live by feeding off of other beings' active powers," explained Marcus as Wyatt watched Chris move towards Melinda. Wyatt let his siblings have a moment, despite desperately wanting to check up on her.

Lara continued where Marcus left off, "if you kill the demon with an active power they tend to explode as soon as they die, taking their final revenge by ripping away some or all of your active powers depending on how powerful you are."

A look of horror came over Wyatt's face as he tried to form an energy ball but failed.

_'Don't worry, the problem can be easily solved with a potion,' _his brother informed him through their link.

Marcus went on like he knew what had been said between the brothers, "and the first active power to go is always…"

"Magical transportation," Chris and Lara answered simultaneously.

Marcus grinned like a proud teacher before continuing, "In addition, they also remove any way of communicating with others. This means that those in your family who can normally hear you will still know you are out there somewhere but they will become unable to pinpoint your exact location."

"This is a perfect opportunity for the other members of the demon's clan to catch up to you," Lara chipped in, "But, don't worry there will be no leech clan coming after us. This demon was thankfully clanless."

When Chris reached Melinda's prison, he waved his hand to use his telekinesis. The door of the cage ripped right off.

"Still have my telekinesis," he informed the others.

To Chris' shock, Melinda ran into his arms and started to cry. He looked over to Wyatt for support.

'_Just put your arms around her and tell her everything is going to be fine and that we are here for her,'_Wyatt told him.

Wyatt watched in amusement as his brother, torturer and slayer of demons, put his arms around a frightened twelve year old as if he was touching a poisonous dragon.

"My powers are all down," Lara informed them.

Wyatt noted that they were right, he couldn't orb or form energy balls, he was reluctant to try out his other powers in front of these people. He never liked giving away too much information, even to his so called allies.

"I can still levitate," said Marcus as he hovered over the floor. "Not that it's going to do us much good," he concluded, throwing a murderous look at Wyatt.

"My father is going to kill me first and then ban me from seeing you for at least a month," Marcus told Derek.

"Hey, what did I do? It wasn't me who killed the leech demon," Derek said, guiding Melinda to Wyatt.

Melinda had fresh tears for Wyatt, "Shh, little bird it's ok. You are going to be fine," Wyatt said reassuringly.

"How are we going to get out of here if none of you can orb or..?" asked Mel.

'Leave it to a twelve year old to get to the heart of the matter,' Wyatt thought to himself.

"We are going to walk out of here," Derek declared as he began to poke around the cavern. The other Halliwells looked confused at that statement.

With that, Derek's two friends also began to look through the items left in the cave and looted what was worthwhile.

"Isn't this sort of stealing?" asked Melinda.

"Not if you are dead. Besides, it's the spoils of war. In the underworld, you keep what you win," replied Lara who had found a bag of coins and was looking through it.

"Hey guys, I think we are in the midlands," she informed the other two who moved towards her to look at what she had found.

"What are the midlands?" asked Melinda, who seemed to have lost her fear as only children could do in situations like these. She let go of Wyatt to move over to the group to look at the coins.

"Not a what, but a where," said Lara.

"It's the name of the part of the underworld that's under the European Plateau," Derek added.

"We are in Europe?" the little girl asked.

"Looks that way baby Charmed One. Looks that way," said Marcus looking at the other two.

After a moment of silent communication between the three friends Derek declared, "let's go."

After sometime they all had backpacks. Marcus handed one over to Wyatt and whilst Chris threw both his and what Wyatt assumed was Melinda's over his shoulder. Wyatt didn't want to ask what kind of stuff they stuffed into them. But through watching alone he saw them throw in blankets that they had found, athames, weird smelling food they that they had approved of and various bags of coins.

"How can we walk out of the underworld?" asked Melinda, sliding next to Derek and slipping her hand into his as she began to walk with him. "Isn't it far to the surface?"

Marcus let out a laugh that echoed. "We are just going to walk to the closest underground," said Derek with a smile. Wyatt took note of the surprise Chris expressed when Melinda had slipped her into his hand. He was pleased that his younger brother was radiating with joy from being trusted and looked up to. Wyatt felt like he was getting dizzy, the pace his brother went through emotions often made him question whether or not Chris was bipolar.

The other three in the room seemed to have forgotten that Melinda and Wyatt weren't from around here. Wyatt had no idea what 'underground' meant but he wasn't going to ask if no one was going to explain. He was half hoping that Mel would ask to save him the embarrassment. She stayed silent.

"How does walking to the nearest underground help us if we still can't orb," Wyatt asked, fishing for information.

The trio threw him a look. To them, it was as if he had asked them what color the sky was. This environment was so different compared to the surface!

It was Chris that gave him a reassuring smile. His brother felt his concerns, "we are heading to the closest location that will allow us to contact our allies or a potion maker that can bring us the cure."

"And if we are attacked before then?" Wyatt asked, concerned. Walking around the underworld was dangerous when you had powers. They were practically walking targets right now! Wyatt was mainly concerned about his sister. From Chris' memories, he knew a lot about the nefarious activities conduced in these parts.

"We are from this area," explained Lara. "We know what areas to avoid. And, even if we do run into some unfriendly company, they probably won't want to attack a student of the Catar Monastery, a citizen of Capa or a member of the Dizar Clan. There are too many serious consequences from doing so."

"Don't worry nothing will happen, trust me," said Chris, appearing right by his shoulder. Wyatt looked him in the eye and saw that some of the darkness had retreated from his eyes. However, their link was once again mute.

"Come!" said Marcus with excitement in his voice, "an adventure awaits us!"

With that, Wyatt found himself stepping outside of the large cavern. He hoped that the others knew which way they were going and they hadn't picked this route blindly for an _adventure_.

'_Don't worry so much,'_came through the link, apparently Chris could hear him even though Wyatt could not boast the same. _'We know which way to go.'_

The moment they stepped outside of the cavern the darkness hit them like a physical force. Wyatt wondered how they were going to see. Turning to ask the others, he came face to face with a pair of red eyes. Jumping back, Wyatt let out a terrified scream he was not proud of.

A hand steadied him, catching him on the forearm. He turned towards his brother who he knew was responsible for helping him. To his surprise, he was faced with two shining eyes just like a cat's. They weren't red, those must have belonged to Marcus. Chris' eyes seemed to have the same intense shade of green that they did in sunlight.

_'It's called a 'shining spell'. There are those that perform it on others that do not have the ability from birth for a price."_

Instinctively, Wyatt knew that despite being a demon that specialized in torture and who treated his brother terribly, it was Damon Lombardi who had paid for his brother's shining spell. Wyatt once again felt some memories being leaked through to him despites Chris's effort to hold them.

_A small child was running and giggling in a cavern with his eyes shining due to a recent spell. A nearby man, who clearly knew where the child was, played along by noisily looking for him somewhere else…_

_A giggling child was being carried upside down through the market place. The man who held him spoke to his feet as if he was looking at the boy's face. He pretend to be confused when the feet did not answer him._

_A man was carefully washing a child and dressing his wounds after going a bit too far after a lesson. Later he fed him warm soup …_

_A somber child was being carried on the hip of a demon. The demon gave anybody who muttered anything about a slave being carried a__very__harsh look._

Wyatt knew right away that Chris had been hurt by someone other than Damon whilst in his 'care'. The demon not only took care of the threat, but had also carried Chris all the way back through the town letting everyone know that Chris was his. Gradually, Wyatt began to understand the things that made his brother unique.

Wyatt had no idea how Chris came to be with Salek, but knew that if this Damon Lombardi guy had Chris any longer, he might have met his brother in a torture chamber. Wyatt knew that Chris had pleasant feelings towards this man, this _demon_ and he wondered how could someone feel that way about a person who caused them so much pain? But he knew… it was Damon who had shown a tiny amount of kindness towards his brother and took an interest in him.

Suddenly they heard someone speak a word from a foreign dialect neither Melinda nor Wyatt were familiar with. It caused a weird cloud to appear on top of them. The cloud provided a colorful source of light for them and illuminated the entire area.

"A light spell," explained Derek, "we don't usually use it when walking through the caverns and corridors because it can draw in unwanted company… but today, it is necessary."

"Wow," said Melinda, looking up at the cloud. "What is it? How does it work?"

"Like I said it's a light spell. A spell each magical child learns in the underworld the moment they learn to speak," explained Derek. Then he repeated the word and they saw the cloud change its color and increase in its intensity.

Lara continued where Chris left off, "it's like learning to turn on the lights in your room. Come on, let's move."

Wyatt looked at the cloud that followed their movements. "You said that it will warrant unwanted company?" Wyatt said before giving his brother an accusing stare, "you said we would be safe."

"We are safe from demons and such but we can't do anything about animals," replied Chris and Wyatt decided that he was going to be quiet from now on. But when he returned to the surface he was going to orb to the Elders himself and demand to know why none of them ever knew anything about the underworld. Were they were kept in the dark about the underworld on purpose?

After about twenty minutes of walking, they stepped through a narrow hole in the wall and entered a large cavern. The cloud that was above their heads moved to the ceiling and when they looked up they could barely see the top. Thankfully, the cloud extended until the whole place was light with color.

"Normally a light spell does not light up a whole cavern but Derek has the power to light up a city," said Lara and Wyatt noted that Derek looked embarrassed and pretty pleased with himself at the same time.

Looking around Wyatt noted that it was the most beautiful place that he had ever seen. All of the walls were uneven which suggested they were created by water and earthquakes throughout the centuries. The walls almost seemed to be purple in color and the light seemed to reflect off of the walls, creating a pseudo rainbow.

The cavern seemed more beautiful in the silence, it was as if there was perfect harmony in the stillness of the place. Wyatt thought he might be in love, he wondered if he could orb back here to see it again. He also needed to learn that light spell from his brother.

"It's creepy," informed his sister from where she stood beside Chris. Wyatt found himself almost growling at her, how could she think that?

"Yeah, some caverns tend to be weird and creepy, baby-charmed one," said Marcus as he was carefully making his way across and with that Wyatt looked around, was he the only one that thought the place was beautiful?

"Hey, why do you call me baby Charmed One, I do have a name you know," she said to him and added, "and besides we have not been introduced."

With that both Marcus and Derek let out a burst of laughter and Wyatt noted that they must do that quite a bit.

"Sorry about that," said Derek. "This over here is my oldest friend Lara, she is from Capa. That's a city under the Anatolian part of Turkey. She has finished her mingling year at the monastery and has taken her trials which means she is of age. She is going to be a geologist and she likes nature walks," he concluded and Wyatt had the feeling that the last bit was added for his benefit as he had been thinking about asking her out since the day on the beach.

"Nice to meet you, Melinda," Lara said with a slight bow and gave Wyatt a look that made Wyatt's stomach do weird things.

"And this one over here is my best friend and partner in crime, Marcus. He is a part of the Dizar clan from the Pacific. He also has finished his mingling year and now lives with his parents since he isn't of age yet. He has no idea what he is going to do with his life."

"Yeah, like you do," Marcus retorted to Derek, before turning to Melinda, "pleasure to make your a acquaintance, baby Charmed One," he said.

"Why do you keep calling me that?" she said feeling frustrated.

Marcus was taken back, "because you are," he said like it explained everything.

"You are the youngest member of your coven," he said like it was common knowledge. "There is Wyatt who is 21, Derek here who we now know is 19 and not 20," he threw a smile at his best friend and saw him snarl but then smile as well.

"Out of your Aunt Phoebe's kids, you have Prue who is 17, Patty who is 15 and Penny who is 12. On your Aunt Paige's side, there is Henry Jr who is 16 and the twins, Pandora and Poppy, who are both 14. You're the youngest by two months, which makes you the baby Charmed One!" He finished like it was the most normal thing in the world for a stranger to know the names and ages of your cousins.

"How do you know that?" Wyatt asked, bewildered.

"My father has ten siblings and my mother has seven. They decided to have a mind blowing number of fifteen children of which, I am the second youngest. Do you have any idea how many cousins, nieces and nephews I have?" he asked them.

"55 cousins, seven nieces and fourteen nephews with two more on the way," answered Derek without missing a beat.

"See!" said Marcus, Wyatt wasn't sure why he was getting worked up.

"This guy can name every one of my relatives when I can hardly do it myself. So when he told me about you guys, I took two days to memorize all the names and ages. Of course it would help me a lot if I could put a face to everyone," he said while looking at his best friend.

"I'll introduce you," said Melinda, "once we get back home, that is."

"Why thank you!" said Marcus.

The conversation turned towards brothers, sisters and family. Wyatt noted that Chris was quiet as they talked and walked. It was nice hearing about everyone's family.

Wyatt wondered if this is what being an orphan felt like, you listened to people's stories and tried to imagine what your family would have been like. While he knew that Chris knew that he was no longer an orphan or abandoned or any other thing else like that, Wyatt knew that the feelings were still there. They probably would be for some time.

When they came to the other side of the cavern, Wyatt for the first time in his life put his levitation power to work. Both he and Melinda had inherited the power from Phoebe a long time ago but for some reason, after losing her powers this was the one she never gained back but she did help them train with it.

Wyatt had always thought it was a useless power - who wanted to levitate in the air anyway? And suddenly saw the reason for the power. He watched as both Chris and Marcus levitated with ease along the wall of the cavern until they reached the corridor they were supposed to exit that was at least 20 meters above them.

Wyatt wondered if the Warren-Halliwell line had this power because they were once upon a time involved in the underworld. It seemed the perfect power for the underworld.

Chris then levitated down with ease and grabbed Lara's bag and guided Melinda, who had the power, but still couldn't steady herself up the wall. Wyatt saw that Lara was scaling the wall like a mountain goat and that neither boy had offered her any assistance so he too retained from doing so.

He levitated up and guided himself by holding onto the wall as he had never had any reason to levitate up so high into the air before and reached the exit just after Lara.

They continued to walk through narrow corridor after corridor and cavern after cavern for several hours with light conversation taking place.

Suddenly, Melinda excitedly said, "I think I hear a train."

"Yeah baby Charmed One, that is the underground," said Marcus.

"The underground is actually a train?" asked Wyatt.

"Yeah, of course it is. How else do you think the population of the underworld gets from one place to another? The majority of the demons and people who live in the underworld have no powers. Without it, they wouldn't be able to go anywhere," he replied.

"The underworld has trains," repeated Wyatt feeling a little out of his depth. He had been to the underworld tons of times since he was very little, he had always imagined the underworld as nothing but caverns and savage demons fighting over things to eat and that they all lived in animal like conditions.

He knew there were a few places that had bars and such, but he had thought that those were just imitations of the surface. But if the underworld was vast enough to have trains, just how vast was it? Were there cities where people lived like civilized beings?

He noticed that Chris was speaking, explaining the underground to Melinda and he decided to listen.

"The idea to run trains came from a demon about 700 years ago. The first trains were here in the underground. Back in the day, they were running on charms and such. The surface world adopted the idea very quickly afterwards. Horse carriages on wooden rails were being utilized by mineworkers as early as the 14th century. The mines back then were shared, so the credit should be the underworlds. It was only with the discovery of the stream engine by James Watt in 1776 that both worlds changed. The first stream locomotive was developed by Richard Trevithick in 1803 although the credit is generally given to George Stephenson, who built the world's first railway line, I think it was in 1822 but don't quote me on that I am not too sure."

There he stopped to take a breath and Marcus took the moment to add, "Nerrrd!" He then had to duck from an arm that was flung out by Derek before he turned back to Melinda to continue his explanation.

"So about 200 years ago the underworld rail lines all changed to become industrial rather than magical. That freed up a lot of Witches and Wizards who made money out of this business. Unfortunately, this also led to a large amount of people with magical abilities who suddenly became unemployed which lead to the Wizard Wars of 1872 to 1878."

"Wizard Wars?" asked Melinda and it was Lara who said, "Don't get side tracked."

Derek threw her a glance and Wyatt through the link knew that Derek had been gearing up to explain the Wars. He had the feeling that they were like people who didn't know about the world wars and would be looked on as uneducated or even dumb if you asked who was involved in World War II.

He turned back to listen to the rest of the railway explanation.

"There are a number of cities that went industrial in the last 200 years. Some consider them to be lost and not even worth visiting but some still shining examples of the industrial revolution and are the underworld's foremost creators of technology. There is a city under Japan which runs on nothing but fiber optics and technology. It looks like one of those science fiction cities."

Wyatt could feel the childlike excitement that ran through his brother as he explained the marvels of the city and wondered how a person who could feel like a child could also at times be so cold, angry and vengeful.

He looked up when they came across an arch in the underground corridor they were walking on. Wyatt noticed that there were some runes etched on the arch but he couldn't read them. He also noted that Lara and Derek could read the name. The two looked at each other and shared an unpleasant look. Suddenly the walls emitted artificial light and their light spell disintegrated. The place was not much to look at. It looked like any other train or metro station you would see in the world but far filthier. It looked like the cleaners of this place had not been by at least in the last fifty years.

"We are in the Midlands," explained Marcus.

Both Lara and Derek went over to a wall that seemed to have more writing on it and were examining it. They were having a discussion in a language that went up and down in pitch and when Wyatt listened to it carefully it almost sounded like Chinese or Thai. He couldn't be sure.

_'It's Latmik' _said his annoying brother and Wyatt saw that he was smiling having heard the annoying comment.

Marcus went on, "the Midlands have never really got it back together after the Wars. Every other city expects the other to take care of the railways and stations. Even the cities themselves are in pitiful condition, not that I have been to any." With that he turned around to address the other two.

"My father will have my head on a stick if we end up somewhere where we aren't supposed to go."

With that Derek turned to face him, "if we wait for the express which is in eight hours it will take us to Capa in about a day. However there is also the mainline that will be by in an hour or so which will take us through Zaker, Kilyos and then finally to Malek in about six hours."

"A day at most versus two days if we go to Capa, I'll take the day if you do not mind," Marcus said.

"We don't know anything about Zaker," said Lara.

"And if we go to Kilyos, we can accept that we will either end up dead or worse but if we do manage to get out then we can bet that none of us will ever be allowed to see the other," added Marcus.

Lara turned to them, "Kilyos does not have the best of reputations."

With that they turned to Derek and Wyatt was afraid that Chris was once again trying to mute their link. His brother was projecting a lot of negative emotions.

"Malek it is then," he concluded with a grim face.

With that they found that at an uncomfortable silence had descended onto the group. When an hour had passed it was Melinda who piped up, "didn't you say an hour?"

"The underground is famous for its delays," replied Marcus who had been following Derek around the station. Chris looked like he had been trying to burn off access energy by walking up and down the length of the place.

After another hour of waiting they finally heard and smelt the train making its way towards them.

The train was not what Wyatt was expecting. This train looked like it was one used for cargo and it was windowless. It came to a stop with a few demons getting off and them coming on. Wyatt was surprised that they were only spared a glance whilst passing; they must really look like they were a part of the underworld.

The train consisted of a long corridor with open compartments on one side. Most were occupied with scary or pathetic looking demons, the majority of which were sleeping. Wyatt figured that it must be nighttime wherever they were.

Every compartment had a long seat on either side and then two beds on top. They were made with a plastic material that should have been easy to clean but Wyatt thought that the place would need to be burnt down to be clean. The floor was equally as dirty and it took a considerable amount of effort to lift their feet again once they touched the floor. Wyatt made a note to burn all of his and Melinda's clothes, including their shoes, when they finally managed to get home.

After a while they finally found an empty compartment. Derek took out a blanket that was in his backpack. When he had been stuffing it in the bag back in the cavern, Wyatt had thought it was too dirty to be any use but now was glad that they had it. Derek hoped onto the seat on one side and spread the blanket on the top bunk and got down.

"Mel, you are on top," he said. "With us on the bottom you will be safest there," he clarified. He turned onto Wyatt, "you are on the other top," he said pointing to it with his finger.

Lara was already spreading her own blanket without a fuss to the one under Wyatt's and Marcus was taking the one under Mel, his face and his comments about the hygiene of the train left no doubt about what he thought about the whole situation.

"Eh…" he said with his tongue out and a look of disgust on his face, "this makes me thankful I can flame." He hopped on and while sitting with his legs dangling, he looked to the floor. "Goddess," he said "please accept my humble apologies and give us your blessing and keep us safe until we get back to our burrows. I will never again take your name in vain or in…" he stopped to think and was interrupted by Lara.

"Oh put a sock in it Marcus, it is not the worst place on Earth so be quiet," she said and their eyes met to silently communicate. Wyatt thought that he was missing something important but could not put his finger on what it was.

Chris took the seat that was under Lara's so he could look up and see Melinda which meant that Wyatt lost sight of him. He could not understand anything that was coming through their link, it was like a bad television reception.

After a while they all settled down and soon the rocking motion of the train was enough to lure Melinda to sleep and Wyatt found that he was dozing off as well.

Wyatt was aware that the train made several stops and an angry commotion could be heard further down the train. Someone was screaming, but Wyatt could tell by looking at the others that they would not be getting up to investigate. He could not help but feel that there should be someone to stop this from happening.

He forced himself to close his eyes and at least get some rest. Suddenly he was dreaming…

_He was kneeling on the floor where he slept, worked and lived. His whole life was here. His mistress was upset that he had not prepared the newts correctly and he was being punished for it._

_He heard the swish of the willow stick as it made its way through the air and hit him on his back._

"_27," he said. "Newts are cut down the middle and then the skin is removed first from the underbelly, then the top."_

"_28, newts are cut down the middle and then the skin is removed first from the underbelly, then the top,"_

_He could not help but gasp as the 29th __hit got him across the shoulders and cut through the lashes that were there from yesterday. He pitched forward catching himself on his hands before his forehead made contact with the floor. His breathing came harsh and quick; he pushed himself back up and presented his back once again._

"_Sorry my mistress," his mistress didn't even acknowledge his apology but when the next hit got him on the lower back he knew that she had given him some sympathy._

"_29," he said after all, the hit where he lost balance would not count, "newts are cut…."_

Wyatt jerked awake in an instant and wondered where he was, he had never dreamed about his brother's life before. He quietly made his way off the bunk he was sleeping on and saw that Chris was sleeping as well. From the look he was not sleeping restfully.

"33," he mumbled before arching off the bunk and at that moment Wyatt realized why he had been part of the dream, they had never slept at the same time before. They lived in different parts of the world! They were never asleep at the same time therefore, Wyatt hadn't know what Chris dreamt about or even if they could share dreams. He should have guessed.

By the time Chris had made it to 37, Wyatt wondered if he should wake him.

"He often counts in his sleep," whispered a voice and Wyatt looked over to see that Marcus was awake and looking at Derek. Wyatt couldn't read the expression on his face but heard the underlying anger in the other men's voice.

"It is not a pleasant dream," Wyatt told him before turning his back to the other; he reached out a hand to touch his brother.

"I wouldn't touch him if I were you, he doesn't like being touched when he is awake and he has a violent reaction when touched asleep," said Marcus very quietly.

After a moment Marcus went on, "my clan would have been honored to have Derek to raise as a child. So would many other people and clans around the underworld."

After a moment of silence he went on, "there are many cities that have strict rules about how slaves should be treated however…" he trailed of not knowing what to say and Wyatt suddenly understood the anger. It was on Chris's behalf.

Wyatt nodded his head and turned his attention back to Chris. If he couldn't touch him then what was he supposed to do? He didn't want to call his name and wake him up. Chris was reluctant to share that part of his life whilst awake and Wyatt wasn't sure how he would react to knowing that Wyatt had seen part of the dream.

"45," mumbled Chris and he sounded in pain, Wyatt wondered how long it was going to last. Chris had thought that it was half way over with when Wyatt had started to dream. Did that mean he was going to dream about it until he reached the end? And was it when he reached 60, 70 or 80?

Wyatt wondered what he could do, and then suddenly it hit him, the link! Now what to send through to Chris? He didn't want to send one of his happy memories to Chris that would be almost taunting as if he were to say 'here have a happy memory of what your life should have been'. Wyatt needed to read up on things that Chris might enjoy so that he could have more distractions.

Now what did Chris like?

"49," came the pain filled whisper. Then it came to him.

Wyatt closed his eyes and imagined that he was on the beach. He was standing at the shoreline and breathing in the salty air. He pushed the image through the link to his brother.

After about a minute he saw the lines in his brother's body relax as he drifted into a deeper sleep.

"Nice trick," whispered Marcus before sitting up and patting the space next to him indicating that Wyatt should join him. Out of his pocket he pulled out a deck of cards and soon Wyatt found himself being taught some new games whilst they looked after their companions.

_

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Edited before official release: July 25th, 2010 by Piper Julian (who I think is awesome – when I re-read what she has edited I sometimes laugh out loud at my stupid mistakes – sorry to those that read this story before she came along, English is my second language!)_

_OK – the story seems to have slowed down as I want to give you information about the underworld as most it is going to be set down there and more than enough of you have said you would rather read dialog than narration so I tried to put the information in a dialog form.  
The next chapter will continue to see over happy little group visit a city in the underworld before going back home. The next update should be by in a few days… _


	19. Chapter 19

_Hello out there,  
Very sorry for the long wait, I can't say I don't have an excuse 'cause I do so here is my list of excuses..._

_1. The end of the holidays were near so my friends decided to come so we had fun – meaning we hung out until 4 in the morning, slept 'till noon went to the beach started drinking at happy hour (which is six in the afternoon) came back from the beach at eight showered and hit the streets again! Man I am tried – I am glad the holidays are over! I need to rest! :) – and __ I like to who__ invented high heels so I can send Chris after them!_

_2. Another story started bugging me just as I was finishing writing up the last chapter. So I typed the first few chapters and outlined it. It is of course a Charmed story. If anyone would be willing to beta that one before I post it please let me know - you know my style by now so you would now if you would like to read something else from me better then me! It is either a Wyatt or Chris story, which one it is is supposed to be the suspense!_

_3. Reason number three, sadly no one is paying me to write this, wish they were. So I need to work, I don't go back to work until tomorrow however I needed to do some prep._

_4. And last but not least the next two chapters begged to be written before this one – So this one is actually good news as they should be up as soon as I can re-read them and the awesome Piper Julian could beta them._

_I hope you ENJOY!  
For those who wished for a Melinda warning – she will be in this chapter as she is still with the group._

_

* * *

_

After a while they felt the occupants in the other compartments starting to move and noise level on the train gradually increased. It seemed that people were beginning to wake, morning had come.

It took a while but finally everyone in their compartment was awake as well. Lara handed them some of the food they looted from Mr. X's lair.

"I am going to see how much further we have to go," Derek said and without waiting for a reply he was up and moving down the train. Wyatt concentrated on their link and began to watch Chris' movements through his brother's eyes. At the same time, he concentrated on the conversation that Lara and Melinda were having. Though Wyatt was no stranger to multitasking, this was pushing it even for him.

Chris talked to many people and demons and despite not understanding the languages spoken, Wyatt found that he could understand what was being said due to Chris' own comprehension of the different tongues. It was a very weird feeling but one that could have tremendous advantages considering the fact that Wyatt had trouble with his first language let alone being able to speak another one. The gift that whitelighters had to speak to their charges in their own language must have skipped him for some reason and manifested itself in a different way in Chris.

There was not a lot of information on hybrids, only that whitelighter abilities tend to have a mind of their own when in combination with witchcraft. Their Aunt Paige's telekinesis was the first clue that each individual hybrid may have an original whitelighter ability or some sort of mutation of one. It seemed that Chris could learn to speak any language that he was exposed to after sometime, instead of just knowing it instinctively due to a charge.

Wyatt wondered why Chris had this particular manifestation of the power while the other Chris had not. He remembered the story of a genie that had come with an Arabic warning label on the bottle and Chris not being able to read it.

His train of thought was cut off with a sharp question, _'What other Chris?'_

Wyatt had a moment of panic causing his shields to come up automatically hiding all he knew and remembered about the Chris from the alternate future.

He could feel the cold fury that was building up on the other side of the link.

_'WYATT! WHAT other CHRIS are you thinking about?'_

Suddenly all the other occupants in the compartment turned to look at Wyatt. It was amazing that they could feel Chris' power through him, which lead Wyatt to realize that they could probably cast spells together with a result more powerful than the Power of Three. They didn't even really need to be together physically in order to channel the other's power. Now all they needed was a name!

'_Don't change the SUBJECT!'_

Despite also being intrigued by Wyatt's line of thought, Chris was currently more curious about the other Chris. Wyatt took a deep breath and checked his shields.

_'As you might have guessed there is a story here,' _he halted his brother's protest with the image of a raised palm. '_However it is not my story to tell. I will ask our parents to share it with you when the time is right.'_

He waited a beat to see if that would satisfy his brother,_'on this you have to accept my judgment as the eldest sibling and wait,_' he said and realized that excuse worked. Chris was taught to respect his elders and although Wyatt would not use this to his advantage he knew that Chris would not refuse a direct command from an older family member. The fury didn't go away but Chris accepted Wyatt's judgment on the topic, at least for now.

After a while Chris came back to the compartment, "we're here," he said.

They could feel the train slow down as it came into a station. They all stood up and before they left Derek looked at Wyatt and Melinda.

"I am sorry to ask this of you, but you two must not speak a word whilst we are in this city," he told them quietly.

"Why?" asked Wyatt.

"Because everyone in this city speaks Gallic or another language that belongs to this part of the underworld... The only surface language that you might hear is German. As you might imagine, two people who can only speak English will stand out."

"Wyatt, you can probably understand everything that will be said because of the link and if the need arises we can say that you are mute," he said with an apologetic look at his brother.

He then turned to Melinda, "you will not let go of my hand under any circumstances, if we need to, we can say you are from the Atlantic area and that you have taken a vow of silence. People here will not question that," he finished with his hand held out towards Mel who took it with a determined look.

Wyatt had wanted to ask why but found that a lot of people and demons were moving out into the corridor as the train came to a stop.

They exited the train and Wyatt couldn't help but look around in wonder. The station they were in was huge; there were trains on many different levels and many different beings moving from one platform to another. It was incredibly busy from the amount of people and also very filthy. There was smoke and dust in the air and the whole place reeked like a rat carcass in summertime.

The little group followed Derek who understood the signs and was able to navigate the station. They made their way across a bridge over some of the tracks and Wyatt stopped in the middle. To his side was a small child. The child slept on their front, preventing Wyatt from telling the gender, but Wyatt had a feeling that the toddler was a boy. He could not have been more than three or four years old and was completely naked with drool coming out of his mouth. The poor thing seemed to have defecated in his sleep, it looked like he was suffering from diarrhea therefore covering his legs in his own filth.

Wyatt moved over to help the child only to find himself physically stopped by Marcus.

'_You can't help,'_his brother explained in a tight voice._'First off, where will we take the child? Secondly, the authorities would not let us take him. You are a surface dweller, we are underage and Lara is not from this city.'_

'_But…but… there should be somewhere we can take him, some place that can care for him.'_

'_There is,'_was the short answer.

'_Where?'_asked Wyatt trying to move once again and glaring at Marcus who seemed to be able to hold him in place with just a hand on his arm. The demons that were moving over the bridge were looking at them as they passed, finding their strangely colored clothing even stranger than the sight of a homeless child.

'_We can take him to the slavers,'_ his brother replied. _'He looks young enough that they would take him… if he isn't dead, that is.'_

Wyatt was shocked, wasn't there a social service or an orphanage of some sort that would claim the child?

'_There isn't,'_ responded Chris before carrying on in a serious tone, _'and if he has a choice, I will make it for him. He would rather die an agonizing death here on the floor of this filthy place than spend the rest of his life as a slave.'_

Wyatt found himself dragged away from the little boy and he was about to turn back around when Derek said, _'don't look back,'_

_'Don't look back,'_ echoed in mind as they went towards a dark tunnel.

Wyatt felt his anger rise. Why was this happening to the innocent? All of his life he had listened to his family's stories of helping the innocents, he himself had helped a great number of people get away from demons. But how come they never had the chance to help the children who never had anywhere to go?

Salek had been called to help his brother because Chris had been powerful but what if he had been weak? Would he have spent his entire life as a slave? What about the other children that didn't have guardian angels? Who would help them?

Surely his brother, the genius, could think of something to help them!

_'We can't save everyone,' _his brother said through the link echoing back what he had told him in regard of the dolphins.

Suddenly Wyatt was hit with a thought of _'Why not?' _as they entered a dark tunnel.

The tunnel, if possible, smelt worse than the station and was pitch dark. The only reason Wyatt didn't trip was because Marcus was guiding him through the tunnel. Wyatt could feel other creatures moving about the tunnel and he swore that something was maneuvering around their legs.

As they reached the end of the tunnel they were reemerged in light. They were now standing on a wide ledge. They were in an incredibly high up cavern and struggled to make out anything in the piercing light.

After their eyes adjusted, it wasn't only Wyatt who wolf whistled at what he was seeing. They were standing at the top of a canyon! It was so vast that you couldn't see the other side and could barely view the sides. It was like a Grand Canyon with a roof!

The difference was that this place was a mad scientist's dream. There was steel and technology in every visible corner. There were cable lifts that went up and down into a cloud that seemed to be covering the city and making it impossible to see the bottom of the cavern.

The cloud was engineered by powerful magic and divided the area in half. Not only that, but it illuminated the place in its entirety and made it seem like it was eternally trapped in twilight. Wyatt thought it was breathtakingly beautiful.

The whole place seemed to be inhabited, including the ceiling as there seemed to be dwellings in the stalactites.

'_Above the cloud is where the rich and powerful have their houses and compounds. The ceiling is reserved for the middle class,'_ explained his brother. Whilst his brother was attempting to mute his feelings, Wyatt could tell that he was nervous.

'_Let me guess…__we're travelling below the cloud?_' he asked and didn't need his brother to answer as he moved towards one of the cable lifts. Chris paid someone and they got into a huge cable lift that was capable of transporting fifty people. After waiting for about half an hour for it to fill to the brink, the doors closed. Wyatt could see that Mel had her head on her brother's clothes where she was holding his hand. She was taking in his smell that was probably sweaty after spending time in the many different climates of the underground. None of them had had a shower in the last two days so whilst his brother stunk, he was a pine tree compared to the rest of the cable car.

The cable lift slowly began to descend into the cloud and Wyatt could see that the houses and compounds that were around the cavern were very modern and looked rich.

After a while they were in the cloud and it seemed more like travelling through a rainbow, many different colors illuminated the space, mesmerizing Wyatt with its beauty. To his surprise, many didn't even look at the lights. Shortly afterwards, they exited the cloud.

Even though the light spell was effective as it was above, the area seemed dimmer somehow. They were looking at a rundown industrial city that was in sorry shape. The buildings were on top of each other and the whole city looked overcrowded and dull.

Wyatt was suddenly scared; the city looked bigger than San Francisco, what would happen if anyone of them got lost? What would happen to Mel? He shook off the depressed feeling wondering why he was feeling down all of a sudden. Then he looked over at his brother and noticed that he had a lost look as he stared out at the city.

After the cable car stopped Derek led them through dirty streets and alleys until they had arrived at yet another cable car. This cable car was nothing like the famous ones back home, did the people in this city have opposition against cleaning? Touching anything came at the risk of disease!

If it was possible it looked like his brother led them to an even worse part of town. They continued to move forward until they arrived at a hotel. It smelt and much like everything else, it was dirty. He paid the employee at the desk some coins and the man looked over at them hungrily as he handed over a key and said something to Chris.

Whatever he said suddenly had an effect on Chris who became very angry. He reached over the desk to grab the man by his throat and then said something to him. Their link was totally silent so Wyatt could not understand what was being said however Lara stepped forward and managed to say something that calmed Chris enough to back off.

They walked to the third floor in silence and arrived at a small and scorching hot room that most would not want to stand in let alone sit on what was supposed to be the bed. Marcus silently took out a blanket from his backpack and spread it over one of the beds as Lara did the same over the other. Mel finally let go her brother's hand and sat on a bed, from the way she massaged her hand Wyatt knew that Chris had a death grip on her.

"So what now?" asked Wyatt.

"We find a messenger to take our message," replied Lara.

"Normally the underworld has a postal service however, it is even worse than the surface so you do not want to be sending your Christmas cards through the post," said Marcus seemingly not affected by the whole thing also taking a seat on the other bed. After all, this was an adventure to him.

"However," picked up Chris, "there are people who have transportation skills that carry messages for a high price and we do not have that much money hence the cheap part of town, here things are a little bit cheaper."

"Now all we have to decide who we want to send a message to," said Lara.

"Why would that be a difficult decision?" asked Melinda.

"Ah, to be so young," said Marcus as he lay down on the bed and placed his hands behind his head.

Chris smiled despite the situation. "We need to send a message to someone who is going to get us out of here to our respected cities and houses preferably with our powers intact."

"Aunt Paige," suggested Melinda. "She can orb and get us out of here."

"You cannot magically transport into anyplace you want in the cities," stated Marcus.

Chris picked up the explanation, "there are ancient wards around almost all the cities. People don't even remember who put them up however, they cannot be brought down or are there witches who can raise them. They make any way of magically transporting into them impossible."

"That is why idiots who want to travel to the surface at all times live away from the cities in uninhabited caverns away from any wards," added Marcus.

"You know our mother could make a lot of money," said Wyatt suddenly, everyone in the room turned around to look at him. Wyatt looked embarrassed at the sudden attention.

"She knows how to put up wards to keep people from transporting into a house. I am sure she can expand the area," he finished lamely.

Marcus laughed out loud, "I like how you think, human."

"Anyways," went on Lara smiling as well, "people throughout the ages have managed to pluck holes in the wards so it allows transportation from certain areas. They are well guarded and you have to state your reason for leaving and entering the city just like you would do at a police check."

"Of course rich families have their own holes but that is a whole other story," added Marcus.

"So we need someone who can magically transport into this city without arising too much suspicion and get us out," clarified Wyatt just to make sure he got the idea.

"Well my father would work but he would be a bad choice," said Marcus and Chris actually laughed at the idea.

Wyatt looked over at Marcus for an explanation.

"You see my father would come and get us out but he will be pissed and he would insist on all of us going back to my home. Then he would get in contact with your parents so they could come and get you. Your parents meeting my dad under these conditions might not be the best of ideas," he explained like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"We could also get my parents however, they would not be very happy about the situation. They already think I took the trials too early, this would add fuel to the fire," said Lara.

"We could send for Salek," suggested Wyatt.

"No, it won't work," said Chris. "He probably is already on our trail. However it will take him a while to catch up, the messenger would not be able give him a message."

"He always says to stay put when you are in trouble. Maybe we should have stayed in the cavern, he would have eventually come for us," suggested Marcus.

Suddenly Lara exclaimed, "Mistress Millie!" as Chris said "water under the bridge" to Marcus' suggestion.

Wyatt didn't know who this Mistress Millie was but the others in the room all seemed to think it was a good idea and Derek stood up.

"I'll go and get the message sent," he said.

Lara stood up as well, "I'll come with you, you stay here," she said to the others, "and lock the door and no matter what happens don't leave," she said.

"We won't be long," said Chris as they left.

They were back after about twenty minutes, which Wyatt had spent looking out of the window at the sorry city and its habitants. Melinda and Marcus spent the time on the bed playing some sort of game that Marcus was teaching her to play.

"The messenger left right away so if she is at the monastery she should be here just under an hour," said Lara so Wyatt gathered that this Mistress Millie was a teacher from the monastery.

Wyatt could not hear anything through the link and was unable to communicate with his brother using it. Chris seemed to have lost all the life that he had and appeared incredibly unhappy. He moved over to the tiny single window the room had, Wyatt let him have his spot by it.

He stood there looking out the window at the city. Looking at him, Wyatt suddenly had an inkling of what this city meant to Chris.

"You lived here, right? Before Salek came for you?" it was a statement and a question at the same time. It was the explanation of why Wyatt had been bombarded with memories but now silence as Chris was muting the link.

"Aye, it's good to be home," murmured Derek turning away from the window.

It was Lara who answered, "this isn't home, Derek! We have been over this before and now you know where you are from."

When Derek looked at her she went on, "you are from San Francisco and maybe Wyatt here can show you around your own city and then perhaps you can show us in turn. I mean I am curious about where you are from! We have been to Cappa and Palina."

A scan of the room revealed that Marcus agreed with Lara and Wyatt would be more than willing to show him his true native city. Wyatt knew that Chris belonged on the surface. Not here, not in this decaying city.

Chris smiled, but Wyatt wasn't sure if he accepted the fact.

They all settled down in the little room, there was nothing to do but wait.

A little over an hour there was an angry knocking on their door. Wyatt had never known someone could knock angrily but apparently they could.

Lara went to open the door and she was swept aside as a tiny woman who looked to be of Indian descent entered the room. She was dressed like she was going on a business trip with black pants and a crisp white shirt and Wyatt noted that she was even wearing high. She sure must have been short without them! She looked human but Wyatt could sense that she was not. She was very short just a bit taller than Melinda with green eyes and short spiked hair.

She looked livid. Marcus jumped off the bed at the sight of her.

"Mistress Millie!" he cried and gave the tiny woman a bear hug.

"Marcus, get off!" She said and gave Marcus a slight push which had Marcus tripping back. Wyatt noted that she hadn't even exerted effort in doing so. She was stronger than she looked. 'Size does not matter,' his Aunt Phoebe had always said.

Despite her anger, she looked at Chris with concern.

"Are you okay?" Mistress Millie inquired.

"We are fine," replied Chris.

"Can we please get out of here," he continued and Wyatt felt the crack in the shield and could feel that his brother was not happy to be here.

"Sure, sweetheart," she said and turned to the rest of the room. From her belt she suddenly produced five tiny potion bottles with a bright purple potion which she handed to everyone.

Marcus opened his bottle and drank it down like he was dying of thirst. The rest followed suit and Wyatt drank his as the others seemed to trust this tiny business demon that had come for them.

Wyatt felt a shiver go through his body and then a rush of heat, similar to a shot of tequila. He didn't need to check to know that his powers were back. He had never realized that he could feel them. This was worth exploring.

"Alright, let's go" said the demon. "There is a transportation place just ten minutes from here. Marcus, you will flame over to your father and Lara, you will go back home. You Mister," she said pointing a finger towards Chris, "will shimmer or flame or whatever back to the monastery and report back to Master Bruno. I will take the Twice Blessed and the reincarnation back to their home."

"Now wait a minute," started Wyatt as Melinda asked "what reincarnation?"

"There will be no questions! And there will be no ARGUMENTS!" she thundered.

The others, including Melinda, had quietly gotten up to do as they were told. Wyatt was not done, Chris was his brother and he was not letting him go somewhere else.

"Chris is coming home with us," he stated looking her in the eye.

"_Theo_" she said, emphasizing the name, "is going back to the monastery where he is an underage student." That seemed to be the end of the argument, at least for her.

"Our mother—" Wyatt said before being cut off.

"IF your mother has any arguments against this, she can take it up with the council of masters who run the monastery. Now MOVE, boy! I haven't got all day!"

Wyatt had one more argument, he was not going anywhere with this woman, "I can orb us out, you don't need to come."

If it was possible the woman got louder.

"ORB? Have you lost your MIND? YOU ARE IN MALEK! You orb out of here and a war starts! Whitelighters are not allowed within the parameters of this city!"

'_Don't worry too much,' _his brother said in an amused tone. _'She is not really angry, she is always like this. It is when she whispers that you know you are in trouble.'_

With that, he gestured for Wyatt to follow the others and held out his hand for Melinda to take and they followed Lara out of the hotel room.

They could hear Marcus talking loudly in front of them. Even though Wyatt could not understand the language, he knew that Marcus was talking about how good it was to see Mistress Millie and how much he had missed her.

Wyatt couldn't help but shake his head. Life with his brother wouldn't be boring at least, he seemed to be surrounded by interesting characters from all sort of places.

_Edited before official release: August 21st, 2010._

_There are hints about what is to come in this chapter, I would love it if you gave me your guesses which you already do and I love getting the long reviews you guys bless me with telling me the parts you loved and didn't like so much and what you hope to come. I PROMISE that the next chapters is at most two days away!_


	20. Chapter 20

Derek was agitated. It had been a week since they returned from Malek and he had already been brought before the council of masters. They were not happy with him. He was not supposed to go anywhere unknown without a masters' approval. Due to the fact that he was both underage and their charge, they were responsible for both him and his actions.

This was his seventh violation. He had left the grounds of the monastery three times during the time he actually lived there. Needless to say, the results were not always satisfactory. His trips often became vastly different than what was typical for other students who sneaked of the grounds. Instead of sightseeing, he often found himself having to fight for his life… his 'vacations' often ended with someone dead.

Salek was the one to take the brunt of their anger. Since he had taken Derek up to the surface, Derek had four additional escapades… including the dolphin incident. They told Salek that he was not living up to their expectations as Derek's lighter. He was losing control of his charge.

This latest stunt had not only included his charge, but three other underage people as well. Not to mention, one was a twelve year old girl! One master even questioned whether or not Derek was too naïve to understand the consequences that may befall them if Melinda had been captured in Malek. Her fate would not be a pretty one.

Derek had been embarrassed. He was told he was supposed to have come to a master with the information he had gained.

"Did you really think that any master of this monastery would have let a twelve year old sister of a student in the hands of a demon against her will?" one of the masters had asked. Derek appeared to be suddenly interested in the patterns of the floor.

To be honest he had not thought about it. Normally he just acted on the information he received. He had not enjoyed travelling to Malek, but at the time he had thought it was the best option. Now looking back, he could think of many other options during the course of the rescue operation.

"You are a senior student of this monastery," another master spoke. "You have to be able to think clearly in situations that will affect other people, some of whom may be close to you."

After a long discussion they had decided that he would be punished. Derek had to learn that there were consequences to his actions. Derek realized their decision was also a punishment for Salek. They were both ordered to return to the monastery for the foreseeable future if they wished for Derek to continue studying at the monastery.

Derek was told to move back to his prime master's quarters. For the next two months, he was to have remedial studies under certain masters. At no time within the monastery would he be without supervision. Derek had been shaking with anger when they told him their decision.

He would be led from one master to another. The council had also told him that they were aware of his family and more importantly, his brother. Normally there was no contact with the family, as that was the rule of the monastery. So a master had been sent to his parents explaining the situation. Derek would have no contact with the Halliwells for the next three months, after that his mingling year would begin.

His brother was a different situation all together, the council was aware of their link.

'_They're way too informed_,' Derek thought to himself.

Derek was to continue his training with Wyatt under the tutorship of Harriet McCain. However, he would have to be escorted to Ms. McCain's and then escorted back. Should he decide to go on a field trip from her house, there would be even more serious consequences.

Normally as a student in the monastery got older they had more time to themselves. They were exempt from chores and when you attained senior student status, tutors would work around your schedule. At that point in time, the student's also began to specialize, meaning that they had quite a lot of free time to work with. As a punishment, Derek found that he no longer had any free time. Whilst he would have to retake many of his former classes, they were more advanced than what he had previously done to prevent him from becoming bored. He would learn a new fighting method from Bruno, a new language from Salek and he would also be taught how to mix more difficult potions whilst practicing older potions he had learnt. All of the other masters he learnt from also made sure to sneak in a new topic after a general review.

During his punishment, if he were to have any vision or call, he was to bring the information to a master instead of acting independently. Derek found himself thinking that this was a lesson to seek help instead of taking the entire burden. He was a genius. He had gotten the point… but had he learnt it?

This was not the only punishment. Derek knew that council would also know that the teachers when given a student who was eager to learn would not be able to hold back and would start to teach him and a student who learned in paces that had not been seen in the monastery for centuries was rare and learning was not really a punishment.

The council made sure to add in other punishments. Students such as Derek often sought out knowledge, so being forced to learn new things was definitely not cringe worthy material.

A warlock councilor had wanted Derek handed over to him so he could beat the idea into him. Derek's breathing had picked up at the suggestion; he did not want to feel that particular master's breed of punishment. The man's past students had been frequently brutalized and one in particular had spent a few weeks bedridden.

Suddenly, he felt calm and soothing waves of emotion directed at him. He had lifted his head up from where he was kneeling in front of the council to look into the eyes of Master Narkey.

Master Narkey was a powerful empath. If he wanted to, he could take down the entire monastery with just a thought. Only those that had strong mental shields could withstand his mental assault. Empathy was not Derek's most powerful power however, it had been damaged because Damon had taught him to channel that power to probe people's thoughts.

Master Narkey had spent long hours with Derek trying to get his empathy back to the way it was supposed to be. He had been upset to learn that there was no cure to his mutated power. As an empath, one intruded on people's feelings without permission anyway, they should not be intruding into the thoughts of others as well. Master Narkey believed that if you were given the power of empathy, one of your callings was helping people work through their problems. Derek lowered his eyes in shame; Master Narkey would be disappointed if he knew how he had acquired the knowledge of where Melinda was.

Master Narkey sent another wave of emotions at him. This time, Derek could not prevent the small smile from the assault of positive emotions. Master Narkey had assumed that when he had broken eye contact he had accepted that he would be beaten. This was the master's way of telling him that nothing like that would happen to him as long as he sat on the council. 'Over my dead body,' the emotions seemed to tell him.

Derek wondered if he should have taken the beating as he learnt what the masters had come up with instead. His free time would be taken up with chores. Derek had to give the council credit, they knew him well. Sending him to work with the crops would be like a reward as he loved the underground farming areas and plants seemed to respond to him as well. He also enjoyed kitchen duty and wondered for a second if it had to do with the fact that he had the genes of a chef running though him. He didn't mind any job in the kitchen, from cutting to cooking to washing up, as long as it was within the smell of cooking.

When he was a young student he had noticed that his chore schedule consisted of chores that he enjoyed or did not mind doing rather than the ones that he detested; only occasionally would he be asked to do one thing he despised. This time however, every chore was selected with the intent of making him miserable.

For some reason he hated scrubbing floors, an activity he would be spending a lot of time doing these next two months, under supervision no less! It was one thing he loathed more than anything. He could not explain it and no matter how much he racked is brain he could not come up with an explanation for his irrational hatred of the activity. There was nothing to it actually and it was not embarrassing or degrading. Young students could be seen at any time in the monastery scrubbing the floors and having a laugh while doing it, everyone who had been raised in the monastery had done it. It gave you an appreciation of clean floors. Even the grand masters removed their shoes if they had come from a training session and noticed that the floors had been recently scrubbed and polished.

Currently, he found himself scrubbing the floors in one of the training halls. With the exception of him and his supervisor, the area was empty as it had been closed for cleaning. He was upset that they would not trust him to do such a simple task. Deep down, he knew that this was not to embarrass or humiliate him. It was to show that the masters of the monastery were willing to give up their time to watch him do the simplest tasks so he could realize he had a support network… one that wanted to keep him safe.

Bruno had told him flat out that they were waiting for him to accept that fact and if he was too thick headed to learn it he would be scrubbing many more floors for the foreseeable future. He smiled at the thought of Bruno. He was different than Salek in the sense that he told you what he was thinking instead of leading you around as Salek was known to do. He was also a quiet individual, which Derek loved. Considering that Derek could talk more than most people given the situation, he found out that days could pass between him and Bruno in comfortable silence.

Derek took a deep breath and started on the task. No other younger students had been assigned to the hall, which he was glad for. It would have been embarrassing otherwise. A senior student did not scrub floors with younger students. This was another lesson; punishment was for the intended person only.

This particular training hall had hardwood floors and high ceilings. Normally high ceilings were a luxury, but this one was one of the great ones with a ceiling about five meters in height. The room was also covered in mirrors and three of the walls were made entirely of them. The space was the size of a basketball court and it had even been used in the past to play said game. Not all the master of the monastery came from the underworld. The hall being this large also meant that he would be here all day. No wonder Bruno had not mentioned anything else for his schedule that day, the floors not only needed scrubbing, but polishing as well!

He was back to dressing like everyone else in the monastery and Bruno had shaved his hair for him before going in front of the council. He decided that he liked his hair not getting in the way but that he liked hair in general so when he was allowed to he might just decide to have very short hair. He wore his pants short and was barefoot. He also made sure to cover his knees to prevent bruising.

He filled a bucket of cold water as there was no heated water in the monastery except for having tea. He added the required amount of soap to the bucket and moved to the farthest corner of the hall and started on the task. It was not going to finish itself if he just stood around. So for the next two hours he did the same methodical thing; dip the brush into the soapy water, place it on the floor, scrub, scrub and scrub, move over a bit, dip the brush in and repeat procedure, he also had to clean off the soap, 'because you were never to leave hardwood floors wet with soapy water'.

Normally if there were several students completing the task, there would have been several of them scrubbing and the others that would be removing the soap. Students managed to do this by running the cloth from one end of the hall to the other without getting on their hands and knees. They looked funny doing so, sort of like a weird frog, but it got the job done and fast. Today since there was no helper he was left with both jobs. So after a certain section was scrubbed he dumped the soapy water out, got a bucket of clean water and went over the section he had scrubbed with a cloth and just water getting the soap of. It was the most boring thing he had done in his life. He amused himself by thinking about creating a potion and going through the procedure required and also on occasion drawing complicated runes with the brush.

After a while his shoulders started to burn and his boredom increased. Where was Wyatt when you needed a distraction? Checking the link he noted that the Twice Blessed was asleep. He wondered if he should wake him, that would keep him from going insane or on second thought... if he thought of running water constantly and sent it through the link would Wyatt have an embarrassing accident? Or at least wake up to go the bathroom? Then he would be awake to keep him company.

He decided to test the theory a little and if it looked like Wyatt would have an accident he would wake him. He thought of nothing but running water for the next few minutes and started to feed it through the link and noted that Wyatt started to dream about running water. He smirked while continuing to scrub.

After a while he wondered if he could charm the brush to work by itself and that thought made him straighten up for the first time in several hours. He absent mindedly noted that he was three quarters done, however if you could charm one brush to work by itself why not several? Would that not finish the task faster?

"Don't even think about it," said someone from the corner of the room and he rotated on his knees to note that Bruno was now sitting in the corner.

"Our next lesson after your punishments is over will be about being aware of your surroundings. I could have attacked you and you wouldn't have noticed," he said with a frown.

Derek frowned, had he really not noticed that Bruno had come into the hall? When he reflected back on the situation he noted that he had been aware of Bruno walking into the hall and the other master leaving, it was just that Bruno was an ally and he had still been angry. Bruno wasn't a threat so his mind had subconsciously decided to ignore him.

"Get back to work, you still have to polish the floors," said Bruno from where he was sitting and reading. Derek noted that once he noticed that Bruno was in the hall he exchanged his book and started to read aloud from a different book. It was a history book. Bruno loved history and this one was about the Salem Witch Trials that occurred on the surface. He had not been taught a great deal about surface magic as they had not known who he was but now all of his instructors were closing the gap in his knowledge as fast as possible.

He knew that his family was in some way related to the Salem incident but he did not know how. Maybe he could ask his mother… suddenly he froze, had he just casually referred to Mrs. Halliwell as his mother?

"What's the matter?" asked Bruno who had noted his sudden halt.

Derek once again straightened up and looked at Bruno, "I have a mother," he said in awe like it had occurred to him for the first time.

Bruno smiled at him, "yes, you do and it's a shame too. I always thought that you came from a cabbage patch."

Derek gave him a smile and a look; he had never been given 'the talk' as he knew all about sex and reproducing. Bruno was disappointed that he would not be giving the talk to his student and had told him he had gotten it all wrong and continued to express the opinion that he came from a cabbage patch, over the years it had gotten to be a private joke between them.

Bruno got an evil look in his eye, "perhaps you should inquire about your brother's punishment for going off on his own the next time you talk to him," he said like he knew a secret, "and by the way, leave him alone," he said with a pointed look.

Derek smiled, Bruno knew him too well. He checked the link to see that Wyatt was still dreaming of water and was actually a little bit uncomfortable; Derek sent other thoughts his way. He was wicked enough to send images of Lara as she was bathing. The monastery had no rules about sex or nudity and the exploration of your body was encouraged with knowing the consequences and actions. Derek himself had never really enjoyed the act of sex a great deal. However, he was no monk, pun intended, he sought out company when he needed it but rarely was it satisfying.

It had been Master Narkey who had sat him down and explained to him that it was because he had never done the act with someone he really loved and cared about. When he was younger, sex was forced upon him against his will and even before his body was ready to enjoy such an act. He had told him that someday he would meet a girl or a guy, as they knew Derek sought out both sexes when he was in need, and he would care a great deal about them. Only then would he notice the difference in the act. Derek knew as well as the masters in the monastery that he was not really sure about his sexuality and it had never been a problem until just this last year when he had gone to live on the surface.

Apparently not all things were accepted on the surface and many things had other names to them. The members of his family had looked upon the fact that he was a former slave with shock; slavery had been abolished just over a hundred and fifty years ago in their country and less than that in many other countries. Many countries in the Middle East had just abolished slavery in the last fifty years. It was not that uncommon for them to be so shocked.

Slavery was not in the open at least for the last two hundred years on the surface but that did not mean that it did not happen. He wasn't just talking about dolphins, he knew of enough people and children who were being worked against their will in situations only fit for slaves no matter what they called it.

He laughed out loud when he realized what was happening to Wyatt when he started to dream about Lara.

"Leave him alone," came the command from Bruno. Derek blocked the link so he would not have an image of Wyatt humping his bed not that he had gotten there yet, however he also did not discourage the current dream, he went back to work.

Thinking about slavery and his choice of sexual partners made him think about what his parents would say when they found about what he thought about sex with both sexes. During his thinking he realized that he had finished scrubbing. He dumped the bucket next to Bruno with a look of loathing that was just for show as Bruno knew and he got the wax.

Waxing floors was harder then scrubbing them as you had to rub the wax into the floor over and over again. After sometime he picked up the feelings of another person and rose up to look at Bruno. After a moment another master he did not know came into the room.

Bruno got up and stretched, "come and have something to eat," he said indicating towards the master who had a bowl of rice with vegetables and chopsticks. Derek had lost some of his anger in the last few hours with Bruno here so he did not refuse the food as he had done several hours ago when the other master had offered. He stood up and stretched with obvious pleasure and made his way over to them.

He accepted the food with a bow and a word of thanks before sitting on the floor in a lotus position to eat. He listened as the master and Bruno made light conversation, he knew that Bruno was free to go and that he was staying to make sure that he ate as he probably had been informed that he had refused the previous offering. The new master provided him with tea as well and when he was done Bruno held out his hand to take the bowl back.

"Thank you," said Derek quietly, really meaning it, suddenly realizing that he had been starving however when he worked stupid tasks such as this his body seemed to fall into old patterns. He didn't notice that his back was killing him or that his shoulders were burning or the fact that he had been starving. He probably would not have stopped if he was not asked to.

"Finish the task and then Master Milo will escort you back to my quarters, I will be waiting so no delays," said Bruno as Derek rose to finish the task.

"Be good," warned Bruno, indicating his new talent for giving dream suggestions to Wyatt, which surprisingly Bruno somehow had figured out.

"Yes Master," he said turning back and giving Bruno a little bow before continuing to wax the floors.

After several more hours he was done. He was disappointed that Wyatt had yet to waken, man could that guy sleep. He had amused himself with reciting a book in different languages. He looked over the hall and couldn't help but feel proud as it gleamed with a shine. It was his back breaking work that had gotten that shine. He knew that many worked bare foot on the floor for grip, but Bruno had taught him and Marcus to skate on the floor with their socks just after it had been waxed. He rarely remembered laughing as hard as he had on that particular day.

He thanked whoever was out there that he had been taken to people like Salek, Bruno, Millie and Master Narkey who cared about him and took care of him in more ways than just physically. Even the master who was now staring at him waiting for him to finish his thought process, he didn't even know the master but he had given up his free time to watch over him.

"Good job," said the master, he had a deep voice and looked old. His eyes had gotten wider when he realized that the task of babysitting him had fallen upon an elder member of the monastery.

"Don't be so shocked," he said with a smile, "you are a valued member of this establishment just like every other living and breathing being within its walls. We care for you and worry about what becomes of you and we will always, and I mean always, have your back," he finished with conviction.

Derek couldn't help but bow to the older master. He wasn't convinced that he would get help on the next excursion he decided to go on, however he was no longer angry that the masters of the monastery thought he should. He would just have to be craftier about going about his business.

He was thinking of ways he could protect those that he cared about as the master led him to the showers where he washed up and then went back to Bruno's quarters. He followed the master three paces back with his head down. All of his life in the monastery he had been encouraged to look up since as a slave, he had always looked down. But when you looked down it was a show of respect. It was a way of showing your trust in the master and believing that he would not lead you to danger, he knew the master would pick up the difference and note the gesture as a thank you.

Melinda and his cousins needed amulets of protection and ones that opened portals since they didn't have a method of magical transportation. He had read about several amulets that had been enchanted to deliver their wearer to a safe haven. This needed further research and thought!

He noticed that they were in front Bruno's quarters, he once again bowed to the master and thanked him for caring as Bruno led him into his quarters.

Bruno had been in the monastery for a while and he had locked himself in his quarters for over a century so he had one of the largest quarters that Derek had seen. He had his own bed chamber, study, library and living room chamber. There was no kitchen or bathroom as they were always shared within the monastery. So technically, Bruno had never locked himself up as he left to eat and bathe but when he had pointed that out to Bruno when he had been fourteen he had listened to a three hour lecture on the idea of cutting off contact from people.

The students under a master slept in the living chamber of their masters, their possessions and clothes were kept in a trunk that was placed in a corner of the room. At night you took out a sleep palette and placed it anywhere you wished in the room. Some shared the space if the master had more than one student. Bruno's living chamber was not large, it was three meters by five meters and had a cave feeling to it as it was round and the ceiling was low around the edges, you could only really stand up straight around the middle. There were book shelves where the wall would allow them that were full with books and scrolls. There was a fireplace and cushions to sit on with a low table where Derek had spent many hours reading and studying. His trunk that had been given to him still sat in the corner of the room despite the fact he had been living with Salek in Istanbul. Officially he had still been Bruno's student therefore, he still had a place in his quarters.

This place felt like home and Derek couldn't help but smile when he noticed that his sleeping palette had been laid out in his preferred place close to the fire and that there was a fire burning low with candles and incents nearby. Bruno handed him a glass of water with ginger which he gulped down and Bruno indicated that he lay down.

Derek took off his shirt and lay down face first on the palette. Normally he got nervous in this position if it had been anyone else but Bruno had done this when he had been shaking in fear until he gradually lost the terror. Bruno placed a leg on either side of him and almost straddled him without putting any weight on him. He placed well callused hands on him and began to massage his back.

He always did this whenever Derek had a hard training session with him or anyone else. He had told him that it was something his master had done for him and his master before that. Derek would also do it to a young trainee someday. Derek felt his muscles respond to hands that knew his back and relax as the tension of working them that day left them. After about ten minutes Bruno moved to his arms and legs and then gently prompted him onto his back and continued his ministrations on his front. His knees got special treatment with a minty oil which Derek was sure if they could thank him they would have.

During his daze Derek noticed that Wyatt had woken up and was sort of knocking on his mind as he had put blocks up. He lowered the blocks to let his brother through to his mind.

'_Can't talk right now, too relaxed to think,' _he sent to his brother.

'_What are you doing?' _came the amused answer, probably having felt the bliss coming through.

'_Finishing a day of punishment,' _he replied as he forwarded his feelings to his brother.

'_This is punishment?' _asked Wyatt, thinking he wanted to become a monk.

Derek couldn't help but chuckle without saying anything, having heard the question and the thought, he sent the memory of him scrubbing and waxing the training hall all day.

Great waves of amusement met his punishment and he lifted a mental eyebrow knowing without words his brother would get the idea. Wyatt sent back memories of himself scrubbing and cleaning the attic.

'_You were asked to clean as well?' _he asked this time being amused himself.

'_Yes, yesterday I spent the entire day scrubbing and cleaning the attic, Mum was relentless. I was exhausted by the end of the day. I tried to tell her that I was too old to be punished but she said that if I was immature enough to go to the underworld and get into trouble I was young enough to do chores.'_

Derek couldn't help the chuckles that left him and heard an audible "shhh," coming from Bruno and tried to be still, Bruno once again prompted him onto his back and got to work on his neck and shoulders.

'_Mum's been worried about you,' _Wyatt told him and Derek felt that it was not only his mother that was worried. He got a jolt of happiness when he thought about his mother – his mother!

He felt Wyatt shaking his head at his feelings not really understanding them, he could not explain them himself. He hadn't realized that he would feel this way, that there was someone out there who loved him just because he was her son. This feeling made him feel tipsy. After a moment he realized that Wyatt had a stupid grin on his face as well because of how happy Derek felt at that moment however he was waiting for an answer.

'_Don't worry,' _he sent. "I'm home," he said aloud quietly as well as mentally as he sent the feelings of being loved and being secure to Wyatt. Being on his front with his eyes closed he missed the soft smile Bruno gave him.

He told Wyatt that he needed to be quiet now as he groaned as Bruno found and released a tensed up muscle.

He felt Wyatt become quiet but never leaving, they had both gotten used to each other being there, it was like when you were really into something like reading a book and someone spoke to you and you didn't hear them unless you were paying attention to them. The link was like that unless you paid attention to the other you did not hear them.

He drifted off to sleep under the careful care of Bruno who had been trying to lure him into sleep for the last ten minutes, thinking that his life would not have been that much different if he were to live at home. At least the punishments were the same and there were people who cared for him in both worlds.

_Edited before official release: August 23rd, 2010._

* * *

_I thought since this was a story about Chris he deserved a whole chapter just for himself so we get an insight into his psyche. Did he learn his lesson?_

_For those that are asking for more Wyatt and Chris interaction it is coming up and I would like to say that allthough I believe in magic I don't believe that magic will be able to solve peoples emotions and problems so Chris will not be jumping into a lovey dovey relationship with his parents, we are still going to see his reactions to them and theirs to his darker nature.  
There have been a few requests for more information about Damon and Derek's life as a slave - we will see more of his life as the Halliwell family learns more of it. And as for Damon I haven't really given him a lot of thought - I will however ask him if he wishes to pop by - however he is a psychopath who likes to torture people so he is not going to show up without causing someone pain. _

_The next chapter should also be up in about two days, you make me happy when you review and when I am happy I write faster..._


	21. Chapter 21

_**Chapter 21**_

Derek materialized into his room in Istanbul to change his clothes before heading out to Wyatt's. Moments after materializing, he sensed Salek arriving and was not surprised that he orbed directly into his room.

"Are you not tired of following me?" Derek asked, slightly annoyed. His punishment was over, meaning that his security detail should have long since left. Unfortunately, Salek hadn't gotten the message and had taken to following him every time he left the monastery.

"Have I not proven that I can take care of myself and others?" Derek said.

"Yes you have," Sarek replied neutrally.

Derek breathed deeply, trying to calm down. He knew why everyone was hovering around him. He wished he could just shake off the affects that Malek had on him... but his mind refused to let him move on. There were times where he felt trapped in a maze and every route led back to his troubled past.

Salek was one of the best things that happened to him. He believed that Derek could do anything he put his mind to. One of the reasons Derek always got into trouble was because Salek was passive enough to let him have his own way.

"Thank you," Derek said quietly as he started to look through his closet for an outfit. Choosing what to wear was so much easier when you had no choices.

Salek lifted an eyebrow at the extreme change in Derek's mood.

"You know... for letting me make my own choices... and mistakes," Derek said. "I know the better choice was to wait for you to catch up to us... but I wanted to know if I could see it through without you."

Salek looked over at his son, "I believe I owe you an apology," he said.

"Why?" asked Derek, frowning as he turned to face Salek.

"I caught up to you when you were extracting information from that low life demon," he said.

After taking a moment to process, Derek grinned from ear to ear. He rushed towards Salek to embrace him. The young man was pleased that he was trusted enough to prove himself capable. After getting over his own shock, Salek wrapped his arms around Derek and returned the hug. Salek felt the boy shaking and for a moment thought that the boy was crying until he noticed that he was actually laughing.

Removing himself from the hug, Salek looked at Derek curiously.

"Sorry, I'm not laughing at you. I don't even know why I'm laughing! But seriously... thank you," he said.

Salek smiled at Derek, "get changed so we can head out," he said. He left the boy to change knowing that for the moment everything between them was fine.

XXXXXXX

Wyatt walked up the steps leading to his apartment like your everyday normal college student. He decided to forego the use of magic today, instead opting to use his car. As he walked into his apartment he noticed that his brother was spread out over his couch and engrossed in a book. Dumping his supplies on a table close to the couch, Wyatt leaned over inconspicuously to see what his brother was reading. The words _The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time and the Texture of Reality_, were printed neatly on the cover. Wyatt sighed, he didn't get his brother's enjoyment from extra-curricular reading. His brother was the biggest geek he had even met... and the coolest. He didn't dress like one either, Chris was looking rather trendy with his dark blue jeans, a black turtle neck with runic designs and Dock Martins for shoes... shoes that just so happened to be busy dirtying his couch.

Sensing his brother exasperation, Chris quietly moved his legs so his feet were off the couch and on the coffee table. Satisfied that his couch wouldn't be getting any dirtier than normal, he went back to observing his brother. His brother had also chosen to accessorize, opting to wear fingerless gloves and a gray bandana that had a grinning shark at the centre of it. Whilst his brother was by no means embarrassed by his shaven head, he had taken a liking to bandanas and had begun to wear them with a great amount of regularity.

'_I wonder who buys his clothes…'_

"Millie," Chris said, never taking his eyes of the book.

"How can you keep reading and concentrate on what I am thinking?" asked Wyatt as he took off his jacket and hung it in the closet.

"Multitasking," said Chris as he lowered the book down enough to see Wyatt. "You should try it sometime, its good exercise for the brain," he finished with a smile, ducking to the side from the stress ball Wyatt retrieved from the closet to throw at him.

Chris laid the book out on his chest to keep his page and stretched his arm to get the ball. Taking one look at his brother's face, Wyatt knew he would undoubtedly have to play the entertainer shortly. If Chris was a puppy he would be sitting with the ball in his mouth and his head crocked the side with wide eyes and a wagging tail.

"I'd be a wolf cub," Chris yelped, causing Wyatt to laugh. "Oh, Salek is making dinner with Mrs. Halliwell by the way."

That meant that Chris had three hours away from the monastery. He was generally allotted this amount of time twice a week to go and visit his family. Of course, during these visits, his mother made sure that they had an hour long family dinner… which gave them all of two hours to do something exciting.

Wyatt almost groaned, it wasn't that he didn't want to do something with his brother, but he already had plans.

"I have other things to do today. But you can tag along if you want to," Wyatt suggested.

"What sort of things?" answered Chris, much like an eager puppy.

Instead of answering him, Wyatt moved over to his bedroom where the bathroom was, "I am going to take a shower and then we will go alright?" he said.

Chris didn't even answer and Wyatt knew that he was back to reading his book.

Thinking of his brother, he reflected on what he had learnt about him. He knew his brother's life was not easy. In the last three months, Wyatt had several glimpses of what Chris's life at the monastery was like. It was harsh at times, but he knew that Chris thrived under the tutorage of so many people who wanted to push him past his boundaries. He wasn't sure if his parents could have kept Chris entertained had they been the ones to raise him.

Wyatt had seen many of Chris' memories of the monastery. He knew that his brother enjoyed his time there and liked to work hard. Although the influx of memories that didn't belong to him sometimes confused him, Wyatt was happy to discover that Chris managed to find some happiness after his abduction.

However, not everything was a walk in the park at the monastery. Since their adventure, Chris had most of his free time taken away from him. He read at nearly every available moment in an attempt to keep up with the extensive amount of work that was piled onto him. There was a great deal of physical and magical training to be done. They also didn't neglect subjects such as history and philosophy. Wyatt was fairly certain that his own brain would explode if he had to read half of what Chris read.

After a quick shower and a change of clothes, Wyatt joined his brother on the couch. Now that their bodies were closer together, Wyatt took note of the fact his brother was far skinnier than him. Chris practically looked starved! Chris was already rather muscular and didn't have any weight to be losing in the first place; he ought to be gaining weight if anything!

"You sound like Salek, Millie and Bruno," his brother commented.

"Good to know I'm not the only one worrying," said Wyatt. Their mother had also mentioned the weight loss. He was eating quite healthily too… Chris managed to eat more than Wyatt and that was saying something.

"It's not like I am going to drop dead," said Chris, putting the book down.

'_Millie wants me to see a healer,'_he said through the link, sometimes things were easier when they weren't said out loud.

'_Because__of the nightmares, right?'_asked Wyatt. The older of the two was often privy to Chris' dreams since his brother was normally asleep when Wyatt was awake.

Without answering Chris got up, "are we going or what?"

"Chris!" Wyatt exclaimed.

"I don't want to talk about it, ok?" he said angrily. _'Please, Wyatt?'_

Ever since their little visit to Malek, Chris had been under a lot of stress due to his recent memory-induced nightmares. Wyatt himself woke up in cold sweat on occasions, screaming in pain. He was at a loss as to what he was dreaming about.

Wyatt didn't understand how their link worked. If they were both asleep Wyatt knew that sharing a dream was possible. But when one of them was asleep and the other awake, you couldn't really see what the other was dreaming about; at least Wyatt knew that _he_ couldn't. He knew that somehow Chris was affecting his dreams; he had woken up in enough embarrassing situations with laughter in his head to know that Chris was doing something to him.

His own attempts at influencing Chris' dreams just ended up with him gaining a whole ton of knowledge that his brother would be uncomfortable with him knowing. When Chris finally awoke from his nightmares, he would be unable to fall back asleep- instead opting to exercise.

"Can we please go?" asked Chris and Wyatt let him have his way for the time being.

They made their way out the apartment and down the stairs to the corner where Wyatt had parked his car. It wasn't much, just a second hand dark blue Honda Civic. Wyatt was proud of his car regardless.

As soon as Derek glanced at his car, their link was overloaded by statistics about the Honda Civic. Derek was very interested in the vehicle and began pestering Wyatt as to when he got it.

"Can I drive?" asked his brother, bouncing in place.

"Have you even ever driven before?" asked Wyatt.

"No, but come on, how difficult can it be?" said Chris moving once again around the car.

"You are not driving my car!" exclaimed Wyatt.

Chris tried once again, "please?"

Wyatt shook his head smiling while moving around to the driver's side of the car, "I will ask Dad to give you some lessons. He'll let you drive his car."

"Really? He will?" asked Chris; rather surprised that someone would let him drive. Ever since coming to the surface, he had wanted to drive a car. Salek had never mentioned him learning to drive and he had been shy of asking.

"Of course he will, why wouldn't he?" said Wyatt.

"All right then! Let's go," said Chris, getting in the passenger seat. The moment Wyatt turned on the car Chris started to play with the radio. Wyatt let him have his way as he drove towards their destination.

After finding a relatively weird station, in Wyatt's opinion, Chris relaxed into the passenger seat. After a moment of looking around, Chris held out his hand and a pair of wrap around Oakley's appeared. Chris quickly put them on.

"What are you doing?" asked Wyatt looking at him. Had his brother never heard of personal gain?

"What?" asked Chris, wondering what was wrong.

"Have you never heard of 'personal gain'? You can't just conjure stuff!" said Wyatt.

"I have never understood that particular rule and besides… spells and powers only backfire if you are misusing magic," said Chris.

"I, for example, didn't conjure the glasses out of thin air. That doesn't happen, by the way. Magic takes whatever you want to conjure from the easiest place. That's why it backfires. As a conjurer you have to also give the command on where you want to conjure stuff from. I conjured the sunglasses from my room, so it is like orbing something to yourself," he stopped for a moment before turning and giving Wyatt a grin, "only more complicated," he concluded.

Wyatt once again noticed that his magical education was incomplete. They were asked to practice conjuring in magic school but given the warning to conjure only in the most desperate of situations. There conjurers would be far more adept if they could practice conjuring specific objects.

"You could talk to Mr. Wyatt," said Chris. _'And he can get one of the conjuring masters from the monastery,'_he finished.

Wyatt wondered why their magic was so different than the underworld's.

He pulled up to where they were going and turned off the car.

"Where are we?" asked his brother. It looked like they were in the bad part of town, in front of what looked like a warehouse.

"This is a youth center," explained Wyatt as they both moved towards it. "It's a place where kids in the neighborhood can come to find a safe haven," he said.

"Why are we here? Are we looking for a safe haven?" asked Chris taking a look around.

Wyatt laughed at the suggestion. Despite being a genius and probably one of the greatest minds of the century, Chris was still naïve in many regards.

"We are here because I donate some of my time to the shelter," he said. At his brother's uncomprehending look, he elaborated.

"You just hang out with kids, sometimes they share their problems but most of the time they just want to play games and stuff," he concluded.

'_You are a sickeningly good guy,'_said his brother as he made the appropriate face gesture to go along with it.

Wyatt laughed out loud before opening the door and leading his brother in.

It didn't take long for Chris to make friends, within ten minutes he was hanging out with a bunch of younger kids, playing some sort of card game. Wyatt noted that despite growing up in the underworld and then a monastery, his brother's social skills were far better than his.

Working at the shelter had been a suggestion from a professor. He had told him it would be good for his social skills and he would get extra credit for it in class.

Martha, the elderly lady, who ran the shelter walked up to Wyatt after he was done fixing a kid's bicycle. Wyatt had found out that he was quite handy with tools just like his Dad and it had come in handy when he had been trying to make connections with the children at the center.

"Nice kid you have there," commented Martha, indicating Chris and fishing for information. Wyatt didn't say anything just nodded his head.

"He could use a good meal though," she observed, "you planning to stay for dinner?"

Wyatt looked at her, it was one thing for them to notice Chris was losing weight; it was another thing for a total stranger to notice.

"He looks like he has been starved," said Martha, looking him over with a critical eye.

"He is having some problems at the moment but we are working through them," he informed Martha frostily. As much as he liked her and appreciated her help, Wyatt had found out that he was twice as protective of Chris as opposed to Mel and that was saying something. It was a good thing that Chris was not a girl, otherwise he wouldn't be allowed to date! Even now Wyatt wanted to know all about the people he hung out with.

He turned to Martha before she could make another comment, "the place looks emptier than usual, where are the regulars?" he asked steering the conversation away from his brother.

At that Martha signed, "Marco is out of reform school and back on the streets. He is threatening those around not to come here," said Martha with a look of resignation. Marco was a sixteen year old kid who was bad news. He was into everything and on a fast track to becoming a big time criminal.

Meth was his drug of choice. What was worse was the fact that he had a great influence over the youth in the neighborhood. Without saying anything, Wyatt turned to go. He had a date with Marco.

'_Chris, let's go'_he said through the link and saw him exchange handshakes with the others before meeting him by the door. Wyatt also did not miss the look that Martha threw his way when he seemed to have called Chris over without talking. Wyatt noted that they needed to be more careful when they were around non-magical people as they might be suspicious of two people who could communicate without talking.

Derek, on the other hand, had learned long ago that you did not mess with people when they were angry… especially when they were a magical being. He had known Wyatt for a while now, however most of the time the guy was like he was on a happy pill. Even this gig… who helped out voluntarily for causes on their free time anyway?

Only years of experience had kept Derek from not reacting to Wyatt's anger. When someone was angry you followed them quietly and hoped that you did not get hurt along the way.

They found Marco in an alley a few blocks down and Wyatt went at him with all he had. Derek held in a laugh, for someone who had a lot of magical power, Wyatt rarely used them. It looked like this guy rubbed him the wrong way; this wasn't the first time Wyatt would be getting into it with Marco. He had done everything to help him but Marco had refused to see the light. A year later, and he was only just getting out of prison.

One little glance told him that being physically threatened by someone was nothing new for this guy which meant that he was not going to bend to Wyatt's threats. Derek himself would not have even lifted an eyebrow. If you could take the beatings than it meant that you would not break to another's will.

Plus, Marco was so high at the moment that he was making Derek feel dizzy with his swirling colors and swimming images. The situation somehow amused him, Marcus always said he had a wacked out sense of humor and it was the sign that there was something wrong with him in the head. Perhaps there was, but he couldn't keep quite any longer.

'_You lack imagination, brother'_, he sent through the link. '_Someone who has been beaten in their life is not going to be threatened by you offering to beat them up again.'_

When Wyatt heard the comment and the amusement over the link he realized that he was angry. The anger had come from some hidden place in him and it brought his thoughts and feelings into a sharp focus. Wyatt wasn't even sure what he was angry at. He wasn't angry at Chris, or maybe he was?

Chris was younger than him however he was smarter, maybe him being smarter would have been more easily tolerated if Wyatt had lived up to the rap of being the Twice Blessed one. He was supposed to have been the most powerful magical creature to walk the earth. But here was his younger brother who could probably kick his ass in a fight. Wyatt knew that it was due to the fact that Chris had been trained to fight for a long time. Wyatt's only real advantage was his brute magical strength.

He was angry that people that had taught Chris that violence didn't get results.

He was angry at his parents for being overprotective of him but allowing a demon to get into the manor to kidnap Chris.

He was angry at the judge that let Marco out of reform school without getting him help.

He was angry at the Powers that Be that let things happen to innocent children.

He was just angry.

The anger felt good, it felt like it had always belonged to him, it gave him clarity and with that he bent down and grabbed Marco by the hem of his shirt. There was a mad glint to his eyes as he looked at him.

"Do you know that I am an angel in training?" he asked the boy. Marco also seemed to have noticed the sudden change in the goody-two-shoes guy and had tried to back away. Wyatt would later worry what had made his brother go silent.

"Oh yes, I am half an angel," Wyatt stopped for dramatic affect and continued. "When you are an angel in training, you also feel closer to the other side," he said as a maniacal smile came over his face.

Some part of him realized that his brother was watching the happenings in silence and noticed that positions were reversed. This time it was Chris that was watching Wyatt, unsure of what he would do.

Marco was shaking his head, "you know about the other side, right?" asked Wyatt before suddenly flaming out of the alley they were in trusting Chris to follow along. He hadn't even known that he could flame!

The trio found themselves in the underworld on a ledge overlooking the lava below. Among the other side of the ledge was Chaos demons, they were like the wild animals of the underworld and they could not be reasoned with. Even the demons stayed out of their way. Their skin was a hideous green and they looked like they had serious burns all over their bodies. Their nails were long and sharp and their mouths were filled with pointy teeth. They ate through anything that came their way and suddenly, they smelled human. They turned to face the group and pawed desperately at the air, desperate to eat the mortal that trespassed into their territory. The grunts and wails they made would make even the most hardened criminals' toes curl.

Marco's eyes were enlarged; he had broken out in sweat. He was looking at the ledge with an indescribable fear in his eyes. After a moment his eyes sought out Wyatt's.

"See? This is what awaits you," said Wyatt simply.

"And should I choose the other side, it would be my pleasure to introduce you to my good friends," Wyatt concluded with a voice that was cold as steel.

_Edited after official release: November 3rd, 2010. Sorry for the delay!_


	22. Chapter 22

_I know this is short but the reason will be explained at the bottom.  
I would like to thank all those that wrote to me and inquired about the next chapter, you can't tell how good it feels to see a review, alert or better yet a review from you guys!_

_OK – An author's note on 2 things before we start:_

_1. People have inquired about Derek/Theo/Chris's powers and they are wondering if he is more powerful then Wyatt and wasn't this established and so on. I am sorry if this was not clear – Yes, Chris is powerful however his powers are still evolving and he is still young and Wyatt was born with his powers fully intact. So just powerful will be clearer as he grows up. Not sure if this story will go that far…_

_2. Derek/Theo/Chris will not be gaining any of his memories form the previous life, what is happening will be explained. (This is a note to let you know – so you won't ask what is happening after you read this chapter.)_

**Chapter 22**

"_See this is what awaits you," said Wyatt with a clear voice as he was commenting on the weather. "And should I choose the other side it would be my pleasure to introduce you my good friends," he said with a voice that was cold as steel._

Chris could feel the anger that was running through his older siblings veins and for a moment he was frightened. He took deep breaths and tried to calm his panicking hearth, he knew instinctively that there was no way that Wyatt would hurt him however in the last few weeks he had been bombarded with nightmares and they were wearing him down.

Not only did his brain drag images from his past but it seem to have a pretty wild imagination as it provided him with fantasies as well. Lately he wasn't just having these nightmares when he was sleeping they had started to come forth even when he was awake. He had yet to tell anyone about what had been happening frightened that there was something wrong with him. Not that he was very successful at hiding anything, everyone around him was watching him like a hawk and he was getting frustrated.

He had gotten himself a journal like Master Narkey had suggested to him several years ago and the only thing he was writing in it was the nightmare-fantasies he had been having. With writing them down he had come to the conclusion that there were only two fantasies his brain had provided him. They had just come in pieces at different times however writing it down provided him with what it was as a whole. And it freaked him out.

One was a bloody battle were he saw his mother die. He woke up from this particular one in cold sweat, he had not realized that he cared so much about his mother however for his dream self she seemed to be the center of his universe. He had analyzed the fantasy from all angles after getting it down on paper and was wondering if it was some sort of new power that was popping up. He had yet to see himself in this particular dream however he felt younger and less powerful. His dream-fantasy self didn't have the power to heal however he always tried. Derek wanted to tell his younger-dream self to not try, not only was Derek not gifted with this particular power he knew a dead person when he saw one.

He was wondering if he had a weird power where he could see the time line should he not have been taken. He would lose his mother to the idiot demon by the name of Mr. X as he had finally been able to see the demon behind the attack or perhaps he was more shaken from the kidnapping and the events that unfolded then he realized. Maybe because he had been wondering that the powers that be were showing him a time line should he not be taken he would have lost his mother at a young age? Not likely. He was going to go insane!

However he knew that Wyatt had killed the annoying demon and he was dead, he could no longer hurt anyone.

The other fantasy (vision, curse?) was even worse. In that one he saw his brother as he attacked his own cousins and there was nothing he could do about it because he physically was not there, he saw the whole thing through the link even thought in the vision Wyatt tried to block him out. He knew this particular one was pure fantasy, he could feel Wyatt like he was part of him and he knew how much Wyatt loved and felt protective of his cousin and he would rather die a hundred horrible deaths than harm them however the vision was so vivid that left him shaken.

At that moment in the cavern he felt the tell tale signs of another vision coming and closed his eyes against it, not wanting to know what his sick mind could come up with.

_He was standing in an attic of some sort and he distinctly saw Wyatt standing in front of him. He had long hair and a beard and was dressed entirely in black. Derek had no idea what the other man was saying but he could feel the anger and the evil that was rolling of him. For a moment Derek wondered why he was not using any of his own powers and something he never thought would happen happened. Suddenly he could not breathe, the sensation itself was not new as he himself had felt it on numerous occasions, and it was one of the things one of his masters had enjoyed. However it was knew coming from Wyatt and he could feel the shock that went through his mind and body when he realized what Wyatt was doing._

_In this vision he seemed not familiar with the sensation and grabbed his throat like it would help him breathe, he felt himself falling onto his knees and he wasn't sure if it was in the vision or in real life._

'_CHRIS!'_ suddenly a shout broke through the fog and he found himself looking into the very concerned eyes of his brother. He realized that he in fact had fallen onto his knees in real life as well. He shook his head and brought up his mental walls that he had learned that would to keep his brother out of his head. He actually smiled tiny smile when he felt Wyatt groan at having been shut out.

He looked over to see Marco who had been left forgotten on the other side of the cavern and was crouching in the corner in fear.

"Can we please get out of here?" he asked and hated the fact that his voice shook. Wyatt without saying anything stood up and offered his hand out to his brother however Derek got to his feet on his own power. Wyatt gave him a look and then walked over to Marco and orbed them out, after a look around Derek followed his brother back to the alley where they had come from.

He found Wyatt standing over the mortal with a great look of concern however the moment he saw Chris he moved over to him and Derek thought he might have added moving at light speed to his list of powers he moved over so fast.

"Are you ok?" he asked aloud and Derek had to smile at the onslaught of emotions of concern he felt both through his empathy and the link which he was blocking however his brothers feelings were brushing against his shields and it felt like the sea hitting onto the beach on a peaceful day, safe and calm.

Derek closed his eyes and breathed in a deep breath, he allowed Wyatt's concern and care wash over him and drive away the dark man he saw. He needed someone to unload this particular information onto but he hadn't quite figured out who.

He opened his eyes when he was sure he was centered.

"I'm fine," he replied however he knew his brother was not buying it.

"Just leave it ok?" he requested.

"Can I help?" asked Wyatt, he didn't want to demand but he wanted Chris to trust him to share.

Derek just shook his head and Wyatt held in a sign but decided to take a step back, their relationship was new, he knew that although Chris liked him he was yet to fully trust him. And Wyatt knew from sharing a strange but unique link with Chris that he did not trust anyone fully. He did not even trust Salek one hundred percent so he would just have to be patient.

A soft moan drew their attention and Wyatt moved over to Marco however the younger man would have none of it as he moved further into the wall.

"What did I do?" asked Wyatt in a broken voice. He had lost control.

"If you ask me he got what he deserved," came the answer behind him and he half turned towards his brother who was moving towards them. Wyatt looked for the vulnerable young man he had glimpsed at a moment ago however he was gone. He was placed with a confident and scary looking powerful young man that Wyatt was very familiar with.

"No one deserves that," Wyatt pointed out.

Chris generally looked confused, "really? You technically didn't do anything. Just scared him half to death and that is not a crime. If he was to take you court he wouldn't have a strong enough case to go to trial," stated Chris really calmly.

After Wyatt gave him a look, he turned to him with a 'what?' expression and when Wyatt just silently lifted an eyebrow he said,

"I have a friend who is lawyer."

"You have a friend who is lawyer?" asked Wyatt unbelievably.

"Yes," came the annoying too short answer, however thought the link Wyatt got glimpses of flashing blue eyes, corky attitude, soft smile and a protective streak that was a mile long. He wondered not for the first time how someone who lived such a sheltered life could have so many weird friends. He brought his mind back to the problem at hand.

"That still does not help me with my current problem. And that is what to do with him?" he said gesturing with his head towards Marco.

Derek gently reached out with his empathic and probing powers and found out that even though a lot of the drugs that was in Marco's system had been washed away with fear and adrenalin he was still high as a kite.

"My suggestion would be nothing," he said at Wyatt's look he elaborated.

"Seriously, he is still so high that if we just leave him, he would come down from his drug induced stupor and likely think that the whole thing was a nightmare," he finished with deathly calm demeanor.

"I can't believe you are even considering just doing nothing," suggested Wyatt.

"Salek says that it is the verified action to most things, tested and proven over the centuries," said Chris.

"What?" asked Wyatt unable to follow the train of thought.

"Doing nothing," stated Chris once more and Wyatt had to hold in a grin.

"What about exposure?" he asked he couldn't really believe that he was considering leaving Marco just like that.

"There was no exposure," said Chris looking once again confused.

"I exposed Marco to magic and demons and stuff," said Wyatt.

"And that is not allowed?" asked Chris it being a genuine question.

"Of course it's not! We can't just expose magic to mortals it will create mayhem!" Wyatt couldn't believe he was having this conversation.

"You are a mortal," Chris pointed out.

Wyatt looked over at him, all his life people with no magical abilities had been described as mortals by his family however in the few short months that he had met Chris all his beliefs and knowledge had been jumbled up. "That's not what I meant. I meant someone who has no knowledge of us and stuff," he said waving his hands about indicating himself and Chris and everything else that meant magic.

"As opposed to contrary belief most of the worlds' population is aware of magic and stuff," explained Chris. "The entire underworld knows and I know there are many people here on the surface that knows as well. They just keep quiet about it."

"And you think Marco here could be one of those people that could keep quiet?" asked Wyatt not believing it for a second.

"I don't know. I don't know the guy at all. But," said Derek when he saw that Wyatt was getting ready to argue back, "you can never know if you don't try. My suggestion would be to do nothing at the moment but keep an eye on him see what he does when he is sober, if that ever happens and deal with the situation if a problem arises."

Wyatt couldn't believe he was agreeing to this thing but made a mental note to check on Marco over the next few days to see how he was handling the whole thing.

Suddenly he had a thought, "I flamed!" he exclaimed.

"So?" asked Chris without batting a wink at the change of subject.

"How did I do that?"

"Harriet told us that we would have access to each other's experiences that also meant knowledge. Since I can flame you can as well. It is like learning something the Matrix Style," said his brother.

"What's the 'Matrix Style," asked Wyatt wondering if it was learning technique thought at the monastery.

Derek rolled his eyes and shook his head, this guy was unbelievable! And he was the one who grew up in the underworld!

"Never mind," he said. "Just know that through the link we can have access to knowledge and can work skills and since flaming is a skill and not a power you should be able to do it as well," he explained very tranquilly.

Wyatt was suddenly quiet excited. "I wanna disappear and appear," he said even as he reached through the link towards his brother. He found most of the mental shields had been lowered and he didn't have to look for what he wanted as his brother had also reached for the same information.

It was similar to the sensation that he got when he got his brothers day memories in a rush. He saw like quick silver the lessons that his other self got on magical transportation and when he came out of the memories he knew that he knew how to do various transportations.

He spared Marco one more look, _'you sure he is going to be fine?'_

'_I never said anything about him being fine, I just said what you exposed him to today probably would not register.'_

Wyatt looked at his watch, his mother would be expecting them for dinner any minute and he only had so much time to spend with his brother. He would come back in a few hours to see how Marco was doing.

'_Let's go!'_ he said even as he prepared to disappear.

The last thing he heard through the link was a shout of, _'you are going to appear about half a meter above the ground!'_ before he disappeared from the alley like he had never been there.

* * *

_Ok – hopefully you enjoyed this bit, I am not so proud of the chapter somethings feel rushed but I wanna get a move on! It also was not proof read. I just wanted to post it for those of you that were getting itchy. I will repost it after Piper Julian works it over._


	23. Chapter 23

Salek, Leo and Piper were in the Halliwell kitchen working their way through the bottle of red wine that Salek had provided.

In the four months since their son had reappeared into their lives they had gotten together on occasions. It seemed that their son felt more comfortable when Salek was around so they had learned to accept his presence. Also, he knew more about everything there was to know and wasn't shy of handing out information when it came to demons they had been up against.

The Charmed Ones no longer had a whitelighter since Paige, Wyatt and Henry Jr. could all heal and do whitelighter tasks. Leo was considered the information base for them; however they couldn't help but notice that with someone like Salek around life was much easier. Not only was he a walking Book of Shadows, he packed quite a punch when it came to power. He had told them that he was surprised that their children didn't have more protection.

Derek was powerful. There was no reason to hide that fact from the family although they had yet to see the scope of his powers. Salek explained that powerful beings usually ended up with a few protectors and in fact, their son had three other older beings as guides and protectors because nasty things tended to come after powerful beings. The Powers that Be wanted these powerful beings to at least live to adulthood.

After the little field trip that Derek and Wyatt had taken into the underworld, Derek had at first been confined in the monastery. But Piper Halliwell had taken Millie's words to Wyatt to heart and complained to the monastery. According to her if they believed that her son was underage that meant she, as his parent, would have a say in his life and that meant she wanted to see him.

She had not signed her son up for this monastery so they could not hold them to the rules. She had no contact with them. Her son had been kidnapped as a child and if they did not produce her son she would be inclined to believe that they too were kidnapping her underage son.

Salek had been surprised that Derek had not heard his mother screaming at the monks as she had shown up in the only area that you could magically transport into and demanded to see people in charge. How she found out where to come was a mystery. After several hours of shouting on the eldest Charmed One's part the council had come to a decision. When Derek was finished his punishment he would have supervised visits to his family until the mingling year.

Piper had at least been satisfied and a master from the monastery had brought Derek along to visit with his family after six weeks. When it was Salek that escorted him Derek took off with Wyatt, explaining that Wyatt counted as of age and he would be responsible for him. Salek had reminded him of what was at stake and that they were not to have too many dangerous adventures before letting them go.

So now they were waiting for Wyatt and Derek to return from whatever they had decided they wanted to do today. Once Derek had mentioned that he would like to see more of San Francisco, Wyatt had taken over the role of tour guide and they had seen every inch of the city before branching out to other cities and countries as well. Piper knew that there had been a few sightseeing trips to the underworld as well however seeing that her son considered himself from there she could not put a stop to it.

All of it would become a mute point in two weeks anyway as they as a family had been officially invited to Derek's mingling year celebration and would be spending a week at the monastery their son had grown up in '_in the underworld_'.

"Do you, by any chance, know where you ended up conceiving your younger son?" asked Salek out of the blue.

At that Piper almost ended up cutting her finger with the knife she had in her hand and Leo ended up swallowing the wine he was drinking the wrong way and coughed for the next few minutes with Piper trying to help him. When they came to their senses they looked over at Salek who was looking quite smug at having once again caught them off guard.

"Why in God's name do you want to know that?" asked Piper.

"It would explain certain things better, at times the circumstances and the situations a being is conceived is related to the type of soul they receive," explained Salek with infinite patience.

"Is this important?" asked Leo slightly embarrassed that someone they did not know well wanted to know a piece of information that was so personal.

"I have a few suspicions about your son and they can only be confirmed if I have the right information."

At that Leo explained the darklighter that had come after him when he was an Elder and getting stuck in the ghostly plane and Piper took up the story explaining how they thought they were not going to make it out in time and how one thing led on another and nine months later they had Chris.

"So, tell me about Chris," said Salek leaning against the kitchen counter and staring into his glass.

"Tell you about Chris?" said Leo turning towards him from where he was trying to help his wife prepare dinner. He knew it was hopeless, they had been married for twenty five years and she never wanted or appreciated any help.

Leo saw that Piper had frozen and after a moment continued to do what she was doing. They knew that Salek was fishing for information, however he was jumping form one particular topic to the other without giving them something in return. Just what was he after?

"You know; the one that came from the future to this time line. You mentioned that he had time travelled."

"Oh," said Leo not really knowing what to say. "He showed up out of the blue during a big battle and then announced that he was from the future and was here to protect Wyatt but aside from that he was really reluctant to give out information about the future."

"What kind of powers did he have?"

"Why do you want to know?" Piper asked.

Salek looked them over before answering, "As you might know Derek has quite a number of powers at his disposal. I was wondering if it was nurture versus nature or if there was something else at play," he said without giving anything away. From their reactions to Derek and his powers he knew they were surprised to see some of his powers and had wondered what kind of powers the one they had met had and why so different. He had a theory of course and he wanted to know if it panned out.

"He could orb, obviously, and cast spells and he had an impressive telekinesis both in the original form and the whitelighter version," replied Piper.

"That's it?" inquired Salek; one active power versus a lot of fire power was quite a jump.

"The ones he let us see at least," said Leo and at Salek's look he decided to elaborate. "He didn't exactly trust us in the beginning and we didn't learn a lot about him. He just told us he was a whitelighter, we did not learn that he was a witch and our son until much, much, later."

Salek nodded his head filling this information away before saying, "please continue."

Leo gave a very short review of what had happened then and he finished with a, "and he was here for about a year… and that's it."

Salek's eyes narrowed, "something unfortunate didn't befall him when he was here by any chance?"

"What do you mean?" asked Piper without looking up.

Salek was sure about the answer however he needed to hear it from them, "he didn't by any chance die while he was in the past?"

The intake of breath by Leo and the freezing of Piper was enough information for him.

"This explains quite a bit actually," he stated looking thoughtful. Many things they had suspected about the boy and why he was so powerful and why Salek along with a bunch of other powerful beings had been maneuvered into place to help the boy was making sense.

Piper whipped around and looked Salek straight in the eye, "why? What does it explain? Is this the reason we lost him? Was something punishing him for changing the timeline? He was an innocent kid. He cannot be blamed for what the other Chris did even if they are the same person! I swear if someone or something is responsible, nothing on this earth will be enough to protect them from me!"

Salek actually smiled, "don't worry eldest, it is just a bit complicated and it is _no way your fault_ that you lost him it was just bad luck and bad karma. If there is anyone to blame it would have been the Elders for not noticing."

"Noticing what?" this time it was Leo who asked, after all, at the time he had been an Elder as well. If there was something to notice about their son how did he miss it?

"For you to understand you have to know about souls, how much do you know about them?"

"Quite a bit," said Leo while Piper said, "not a whole lot."

Salek smiled once again, "perhaps you should impart a little bit of knowledge onto your wife once in awhile."

"Hey," broke in Piper, "don't get side tracked and tell us what you know!"

"Okay, the first bit that I am going to tell you might not make much sense at first but it is relevant to the rest. Understood?"

Both Leo and Piper nodded their heads wanting to know.

"OK, consider this Soul 101. Every living thing on Earth has a soul. Humans, animals and even demons all have souls. A soul is created and then is reincarnated many times before it moves onto other things. Even many whitelighters are recycled and they live life many times over."

Piper and Leo were listening to Salek and wondered where he was going with this particular topic.

"There are few that are truly soul mates. They are usually very into each other and find each other once again on earth and fall in love all over again," he was telling this in a really bored voice like he didn't believe in it.

"Soul mates are two people with the same soul. They share a split soul," there he stopped and turned to face Leo, "I am really surprised that they let you become a whitelighter," he said out of the blue.

"Why? I lived a good life, I deserved to be a whitelighter," said Leo feeling defensive all of a sudden.

"I did not imply that you haven't. It's just that you are soul mates with your wife. Making one half of the soul a whitelighter is asking for disaster."

At this both Leo and Piper were taken back. They knew they loved each other and their love went beyond the mortal realm but sharing a soul? They looked at each other in the eye and they knew that they were each other's mates in this life and many others as well. Salek was ignoring the lovey-dovey looks the mates were giving each other. If this was news for them they were going to be in for a surprise when he told them the rest of what he suspected.

"It is probably one of the reason the Powers that Be let you get married and then for you to become a mortal. They normally do not with whitelighters. Both of you cannot move onto the realms above without your mate and if they were to recycle you then you would be out of sync with your other half and it would take several lifetimes before you find one another again. And it is never a good idea to let soul mates lose one another; they tend to do wacky things without the other."

He continued after a moment of letting that one sink in, "It is believed that souls were created in the beginning of time and there are rarely any new souls. Several times in a century there are new mortal souls and new magical souls are even rarer. Now in magical souls the more you relive your life the more powers you have in the next life." He looked over at the couple and suddenly narrowed his eyes, "when you move along you might want to ask the people in charge about what happened to your powers," he said this to Leo.

"What? I've never had powers, even when I was a mortal," explained Leo.

"Not possible," said Salek. "Your other half is unique. Not only is she your other half she is magical and part of a set, that should make you magical by default. Just because you never came into your powers when you were a mortal does not mean you don't have them."

"Part of a set?" asked Piper annoyed, while Leo was trying to recover from what Salek had just told him, "am I part of a collector's series or what?"

Salek laughed out loud, if Piper Halliwell wasn't Leo Wyatt's soul mate he would have tried to win her heart. Women like her came around only once in a millennia.

"You are the Charmed Ones. You and your sisters' souls probably have been created by the same couple in the same life time or by a pair of soul mates for several generations, although if I had to venture a guess I would think during the same lifetime. These souls are powerful together, keep this in mind because it will play an important part later in the tale."

Piper and Leo looked at each other, how did this guy know all of this?

"And I would be very careful if I were you, you will fetch a mighty price for a soul collector."

At their nods he went on, "like I said every soul is reincarnated and lives life once again. In their life on earth they create a ripple affect leaving traces behind or forward that most oracles and seers can pick up. This is what has happened with your older son. Wyatt is an old magical soul; this is his lifetime to shine where his powers are at his peak. He probably had used his powers very responsibly in past lives so he has a whole range of them and could use them from birth, am I right?"

Piper and Leo could only nod their heads, listening to Salek like they were in a daze.

"This probably will not be his last reincarnation however your daughter on the other hands is another matter. You can tell she is a really old soul and this is very likely her last reincarnation. After this she will probably move onto the other realms." He smiled thinking about the younger Halliwell, "it is probably the reason she is so…" he stopped there to think of an appropriate adjective.

"Annoying?" suggested Piper.

"Irritating?" Leo asked.

They both had smiles on their faces and it was clear that they loved their daughter but it must be difficult to raise a child who could very likely feel so many of her other lives so close. "I was going to go with frustrating, however both of those work as well," said Salek smiling as well. "As time goes by you feel closer to your past lives and you could easily call on previous life experiences to help you out. Since she is magical as well as an old soul it makes calling on previous lives easier."

Piper thought that this all made a lot of sense; it explained why Wyatt could use his powers from the womb and why Melinda had always had an old look in her eyes.

"Like I said, oracles are not technically telling the future once you go through life they are predicting what a soul will be able to do in a later lifetime. This is why there were so many prophecies about your son and why it was foretold that he was coming and so on. There are a few about your daughter as well; you might want to read up on that at a later time. It is also the reason why there was never a peep about your younger son."

"What does all of this have to do with Chris?" asked Leo.

Salek waited a moment before saying, "congratulations," said Salek out of the blue, "you have somehow managed to create a brand new son."

At their blanks looks he elaborated, "Chris is brand new, meaning you created his soul from nothing and this is his first solo ride on this realm of existence…"

"Oh my God!" was the response from Piper while Leo was thoughtful and quiet.

Salek went on, "think about it, you yourself know where he was conceived. You managed to conceive a child in the only realm in this plane of existence where there is no life. The only souls that are there are moving on and it is hardly like one of them is going to jump back and say '_hey I'm dead let me be reincarnated'_."

Leo finally objected, getting angry. "Impossible! If he had a new soul the Elders would have known about it, he would be untouchable!"

He addressed himself to Piper as he was sure that Salek knew all about all this, "there is an agreement that all sides made eons ago. If there is a new soul, especially if it is a new magical soul, it will have special protection and no one would be allowed to touch said being until they made their choice about which side of the war he or she wanted to fight for."

Salek picked up the tale, "you see the choice the new soul makes in the first lifetime is important because it will also be a prediction of what type of person they would be during later lifetimes."

"You mean if you are evil in this life you are likely to be evil in the other ones as well?" asked Piper not quite wrapping her mind around the possibility that her son might be a new soul just yet.

"Not necessarily but there is a very good chance that if a soul is tainted by evil or good the first time around is likely that its choices the next time would be along the same lines," informed Leo before turning back to Salek. "It's impossible," he told him, "the Elders would have known, and a slaver would never have dared."

"Technically your son is new and yet not," he said infuriatingly.

"MAKE SENSE!" screamed Piper not really understanding and becoming frustrated.

Salek took a deep breath before going on, "your son is a brand new soul that you have created and he probably had all the protection that he was supposed to have when he lived the first time around. It's probably the reason why he had so few powers available to him despite being the son of a Charmed One and an Elder, however this is not technically his first time," he said letting that sink in.

"You see if a soul time travels and cannot make it back to his or her timeline and dies here, there is nowhere for that soul to go except wait and rejoin with his own soul. Now there are only three written accounts of this happening in time travelling journals making Chris' the fourth known incident and the first one when it concerns a new soul."

Piper and Leo moved over to sit at the kitchen table trying to take in all that they were being told.

"It makes sense," said Salek, "he is new therefore his magical powers are also unknown and no oracle or seer has seen him coming until now. New souls are the only beings that oracles and seers know nothing about until their second life. Also a new magical soul will not be that noticeable in their first life. While this is Derek's first life because of Chris it also makes it his second."

"That is why his powers have changed so much," said Leo asking and guessing at the same time.

"Very likely... Chris is your son, the son of a Charmed One and an Elder, his powers would be quite powerful and he would pack quite a punch. But, if he was new, he wouldn't have had that many powers at his disposal. However because of Chris this makes it Derek's life the second time around... and because of time travelling and I am guessing he was successful in whatever he was doing therefore he was granted more powers. Add that to the fact that he was raised in an environment where he was given the opportunity to explore his powers to the limit he has become the unknown power source all the oracles are talking about." He finished, giving the parents time to let it all sink in.

"He is the power source everyone is concerned about?" asked Leo.

"Yes," smiled Salek, "although don't let him hear you say it, he at the moment is having a hard time accepting that he is the unknown power source. It will become easier for him to comprehend that he is the one that the oracles are talking about since he knows that he is the son of the Charmed One and an Elder."

"There is also more..." Salek said wondering if the parents could take in more information however he felt that they needed all the information that was available if they were to guide their powerful magical offspring to fulfill their respective destinies.

He had gotten into contact with a few old friends over the last few months, wondering what was happening with the whitelighters and why they were keeping so many of their charges in the dark and the answers he got back did not look promising.

Apparently someone believed the less the people were told, the more they would be willing to help. Salek had wondered when that had become the Elders' policy. Knowing more about the situation before you went in prevented you from getting killed.

He had noticed that more and more witches that were under the Elders' care were being killed without hitting their peak in power. Someone upstairs was afraid that they were going to be overthrown or they were on a power trip. An Elder's job was to guide and protect, never to lead! Salek knew that he could not take on the Elders and the Dark Elders he knew would not be willing to start an open war with their lighter counterparts.

However he knew of an old Dark Elder named Ares; they had met when he was young and the Elder was known as the God of War. He probably could get to the bottom of what was happening. Salek had sent out quite a few hints so wherever Ares was, he was bound to show up.

"You were saying?" inquired Piper. Salek noticed that he was lost in thought and took a moment to gather his thoughts and smiled.

"You should know that Wyatt is also yours," he said and at their confused look he elaborated.

"You created his soul as well, long ago and now you have given him a true brother. It's the reason why the brothers have a link, they probably have noticed that they too could cast spells together. Only truly sibling souls could join their powers together."

"It is why I said you were siblings with your sisters, perhaps they are to be the next Charmed Ones several lifetimes down the line, who knows... but they are powerful together," he finished.

Piper couldn't help but ask, "Melinda?"

Salek shook his head, "she feels old, she is very likely older then even you. However she feels related to the brothers so somehow your souls are all related. These connections are the main reason you Halliwells are the most powerful magical coven."

"A concentration of magical souls that are all related could only mean trouble," he smiled this lifetime promised to be the most interesting one yet!

It was in that exact moment that they heard a crash and "We're OK, we're OK," coming from their older son and laughter from both.

"I told you, you would be appearing a little off the ground level," informed Chris as they made their way into the kitchen.

They stopped in their tracks when they saw the look on their parents face. They were looking at Chris.

"Whoa, who died?" asked Wyatt, who wanted to lighten the mood. However Chris seemed to understand what was happening in the kitchen and he turned towards Salek with a look of blame on his face.

"Onlara benim konuşulan bilinmeyen güç olduğumu söyledin, değil mi?" _(You told them that I was the unknown power source, didn't you?)_

"Yes, I did," Salek informed him.

"Neden?" asked Chris quite lost. _(Why?)_

"Çünkü onların bilmesi gerekiyor." _(Because they needed to know)_

He looked around not knowing what to feel, he was just getting used to his family. He did not want them to think he was a power source to be gained and used. He wanted them to know him as Derek before knowing about his powers. That was one of the reasons he was so reluctant to share his powers with them.

However what was done was done and he looked around the kitchen and noted that his parents had the same look that people had whenever they thought he was this awesome power source. Some days he just wanted to be a little bit normal.

He tuned to Wyatt, "I'll catch up with you later," he informed him before saying goodnight to those in the kitchen.

"Wait," said his mother and he looked over at her, "I thought we were going to have dinner?" she asked.

He looked over at what she was making and noted that it was one of the meals that he had shown a liking to and felt guilty. He just needed to be alone right now.

"I am not really hungry," he told her before orbing himself out of their house.

_Edited before official release: August 24th, 2010._


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

Derek materialized in the monasteries area for transporting in and made his way straight to Salek quarters. He slammed his way in scaring the three students that Salek had living with him.

"Make yourselves disappear," he snarled at a little trainee who looked about nine, the other one was slightly younger than him and the final one few years his senior. Salek was the master of languages so students came to stay with him when they were to learn a language. Their stay was as long as it took them to master the language to Salek's satisfaction therefore he had many students of all ages always around his quarters. Some came to stay with Salek several times over the course of their training.

Derek himself had never stayed with Salek, he only came to him for training however all knew that Salek was Derek's lighter. That did not mean that Derek bossed those around however only a few masters would stand in Derek's way when he was pissed.

He was pacing up and down the length of the study which wasn't that large to being with when Salek came in.

"I don't know why you are so upset," he stated.

Derek sent him a death glare, "I did not wish for them to know," he said.

"They will not be able to help you if they do not know," said Salek calmly.

"I don't need their help!"

Salek smiled, "Why are you smiling?" demanded his charge.

"I can count the times you have raised your voice at me on one hand," explained Salek.

He noticed that his comment was taken the wrong way as immediately all of Chris's emotions and reactions were pulled in and walls started to go up all around him.

Salek signed and moved over to stand in front of Derek.

"You are a Halliwell whether you like it or not and certain powers belong to certain families. Tell me one of the reasons why covens tend to teach their own rather than to send them to magical schools," he asked always the teacher.

Derek rolled his eyes, "it's because they want their magic to stay within the coven and also they do not want outsiders knowing about the powers of the coven," he said.

"And this leads to..." added Salek.

"Specific powers only being known to be used by certain covens and only them knowing how to use them. Would you like me to give examples of covens and powers as well?" he asked sarcastically and Salek smiled Derek wasn't as guarded as he would have liked.

"Over the next few years you are going to be part of your family," he stopped there and went on after a moment, "a part of the Halliwell coven and I do not wish them to underestimate you or your abilities."

Derek looked confused, "why would they underestimate me?" he asked continued without waiting for an answer. "They have just met me. They have no idea who I am or what my powers are," he said and looked over at Salek who was quiet.

He once again asked the question in his head, "I did not want them to know about what I can do at the moment however that does not mean that I wanted it to be a secret forever. I would have told them eventually. I wanted them to know me first."

Salek took a moment to gather his thoughts, "it is because they don't you…" he didn't have time to complete his thought process before he was interrupted, Derek must have been really rattled for him to be talking over Salek.

"There is no reason why they should underestimate me. I mean Wyatt is my older brother, I know he is supposed to be the prophesied Twice Blessed one but by default I am _twice blessed_ as well. I am the son of a Charmed One and a whitelighter," he stopped to take a breath.

"If what I have learned is correct I am actually half Elder," he stopped to take a look at Salek asking for confirmation to what he had pieced and figured out from what everyone had told him.

"There was a time when your father, Leo Wyatt served as an Elder and it was during that time that you were conceived," he explained to his charge. "This makes you a half Elder, something this world has never seen," he said looking into Derek's eyes making it very clear what he was saying.

"There have been a number of witch-lighters even some people who were just half whitelighters throughout history however no half Elder has ever existed before."

Derek looked him over and repeated what was in his mind, "if someone like me has never existed before then I repeat my question: why would they underestimate what I can or cannot do?"

Salek wondered how much to tell his charge, they had never hidden anything from the boy about what they suspected about his powers however training a magical child and messing with the emotions of a person has a whole different thing. Salek over the centuries had learned that you did not get far with withholding information from those that you loved. He might as well come clean on some of the information.

"When you live in the magical world sometimes travelling through time is inevitable," and that was all he had to say about the subject as he saw Derek look at him and join all the dots.

He added the needed information into the blanks, "one of the reason why time travel is not permitted is because it creates havoc in the space time continuum meaning you might met relatives you may never have in life or witness things that will never come to pass. Your parents and aunts have met a different version of you from a different time and space even before you were conceived," he gave a moment for that to sink in before continuing.

"The reason they would underestimate what you could do is because first the person that they had met had a different range of powers and secondly my guess is that you being you were not really honest with them about what you could do and they were left with the impression of you not being with so many powers shall we say," he said not entirely true but he also guessed that it was closer to the truth.

He guessed that while it was true that Derek was a new soul and the powers changing a huge factor he was also 99.9 percent sure that his charge would not have come clean with all he could do even if he was raised by the Charmed Ones themselves. There were such things as nurture versus nature but not all things changed that much.

He saw Derek was nodding his head and working through many of the things in his mind. "The other Chris," mumbled Derek.

Salek only raised an eyebrow in response. Derek just shook his head and explained. "The other day Wyatt was comparing me to another Chris and while I wondered he would not explain saying it was not his place."

"He was right, it is not and I am sure while your parents want to tell you all about it however there is a time and place for everything. And I am sure you will find the opportunity to discuss such things within the next year," he said moving over to his desk and looking through the papers that were there.

"Why would I get the opportunity?" asked Derek and saw that Salek knew something he did not, he was smiling that annoying smile of his that said he had something up his sleeve.

"You will find out soon enough," he said, "patience my young friend patience. Now why don't you go find my students and apologize to them for kicking them out of their quarters?" he said in such a tone that meant that Derek was to follow instructions and no more questions for the time being.

Derek left Salek's quarters with more questions than answers however knew what Salek had done the right thing in telling his parents at least. In a battle you needed to know the strengths or the weakness of the person fighting next to you otherwise things could seriously go wrong. And whether he liked it or not he knew that he would in battle with his family and they could get hurt if they underestimated Derek's let's say fire power and got caught in the way instead of getting out of the way as many of his friends had learned to do.

He also made a note to read up on time travelling and see if he could find out why and how it would affect him, especially he wanted to look into the fact: was it possible that what he had been seeing was the other Chris's life and why he would. By all logic it would have been impossible because the other Chris would have never existed. This was complicated - he needed more information!

XXXXXX

A few days later Derek came back from a training session he found Bruno sitting in the living room with a tea service and that meant only one thing: he was in trouble. He was sure that no one could yet relate the giggling potion that had been mixed in with the food to him and he couldn't think of anything else he had done lately to warrant a speech.

"You are not in trouble," Bruno informed him looking up at him from where he was serving tea.

"Really?" asked Derek moving cautiously into the room and taking a seat across from his master on a cushion with the low table between them. "Then why are you serving me tea?"

"Because," said Bruno handing him a cup of jasmine tea, his favorite, "I want to talk to you."

"What about?" asked Derek as he blew on the tea cooling it down.

"Not the potion that took several hours to leave everyone's systems," said Bruno never looking up and Derek couldn't hold a straight face. It looked like Bruno was giving him time to recover and when he felt that his face would no longer break into a smile he took a sip of his tea to let Bruno know he was ready to discuss whatever he wanted.

"Your mingling year," said Bruno. Derek looked up at him with a questionable look.

"You might think we pull your training out of the air however we do talk about it and plan it out. We were hoping that you continued to live on the surface with Salek and perhaps attend a mortal university so you can get more of the sense of the surface," began Bruno.

"But now that is not possible?" said Derek asking and stating at the same time.

"The council believes that Salek is not a good prime master for you and as your current prime master I agree. He gives you too much liberty and he allows you too much freedom and that might get you killed. He won't always be able to show up and save the day and even though your powers are impressive you are in my eyes and in the eyes of many others still a child."

When Derek frowned at being called a child Bruno went on, "A very capable child however you still have a lot to experience in this world and I know you are eager to explore on your own however you have the rest of your life in front of you and only a certain amount of time where you can be free and where others will be concerned for your well being."

"Now I know Salek means well, however it is also a pitfall of being so old. He has forgotten what it is too be so young. He is fond of Turkish because he was from that area once upon his life and they have a word for those in your age and it is not teenager."

Derek knew exactly what the word was but he let Bruno explain it to him anyway. "It is 'delikanlı' it means to be 'have crazy blood' and it refers to those that are about your age. Meaning it is not only your mind that is adjusting to being older it is also your body and its chemistry would be all off. You want to try crazy new things and damn the consequences."

"I have gone through puberty, if that is what you are talking about," stated Derek.

Bruno laughed, "I remember, I was here," said Bruno before continuing. "We wish that the following year is a bit more structured then the one you have just had, with a few more ground rules and restrictions." He said cautiously looking at Theo seeing how he was taking this.

"What does this mean for me?" asked Theo.

"Now the first thing is about where you wish to live after you complete your education here. It isn't only Salek who thinks you belong to the surface you know. We can all see a surface dweller when we see one and you belong on the surface." Bruno said with a smile it was no secret that while Theo was very comfortable in the underworld he was a true surface dweller.

"Why does everyone think I want to live on the surface?" asked a Theo and Bruno noted that there was hint of frustration in his voice.

"You do not wish to live on the surface?" he asked clearly surprised, they had all assumed that when given the choice he would, after all it had been him who had asked for it last year.

"May be in the future however I was thinking of attending the academy in Telos after finishing here."

Bruno was surprised however he shouldn't have been. For someone like Theo Telos was the best choice.

Telos was the most intellectual city in the underworld, and Bruno suspected the surface probably as well. It was a city under North of Africa. It was unique in the sense that it was in a canyon that had a river that ran through it. The underground river was part of the River Nile that ran though most of Africa and the city was narrow, in some places barely a few meters in length however it was long. It ran about 30 kilometers in the canyon, longer then Manhattan Island, before the river once again disappeared underground. It was narrow enough in places with lots of bridges that crossed the river, wide in others that you could hardly see the other side. On both sides of the canyon beautiful crafted buildings could be seen and the city did not really travel deep into the rock buildings.

Slow moving boats ran up and down the river carrying passengers, restaurants and goods. Nearly all the cities in the underground used the magical cloud to light themselves up however someone in Telos long ago that they were forgotten had figured out to adapt the light spell into the river. So instead of a black river a completely rainbow looking river ran though the city lighting the city up into the beautiful colors of a dawn.

The river lit up the beautiful architecture that was seen at every single available place on the walls. If Bruno had to describe the city to a surface dweller that had never looked upon it he would have asked them to think of the ancient city of Petra and imagine the same beautiful stone craved buildings going up as far as the eye could see as well going on forever on both sides of the river, and the buildings being lit up with rainbow colors that reflected of the river. It was a breath taking sight.

The city was full of libraries and academies of anything imaginable. You could learn any craft in that city. The books that had been rescued from the great fire in the library of Alexandria resided in the biggest public library.

The trainees in the monastery were taken to the city at one point in their lives to live there for about a month seeing the city and getting lessons in architecture and visiting the libraries. Theo had fallen in love with the city when they had taken him there six years ago and Bruno on many occasions found himself answering questions about the ancient city. They knew that Theo had spent a large chunk of time in the city in this past year that he was on his own visiting all the libraries and making friends with the masters from the academies.

Telos was one of the training centers of the underworld; those that built, did politics, healers and etc. where all trained in the many academies.

The students of the Catar monastery rarely set out to looking for further education as the monastery covered all the basics for many and they could specify during their stay and being a student for over twenty years was enough for most beings. However for someone like Theo looking for a place to further his knowledge was the right choice.

When he mentioned the academy Bruno knew only one that he could mean. And it was the one on magic, the biggest academy for those of magical descent. Many wizards and witches had come from the academy and they were the ones that once upon a time who had created the light spells, the moving trains and a lot of the other magical wonders of the world.

Telos would be good for him, despite being smart Theo still had to decide what he wanted to do with his life and attending the academy in Telos would be good for him. Bruno was already thinking about where he could move in the city. He would have to mention it to Salek, he was sure the ancient darklighter had friends and some suggestions on where they could live.

This also showed him that when Theo made choices he wasn't likely to inform them just like his little excursions. When would they ever gain this boys trust?

"The academy would be a good choice," said Bruno after reflection, "however there is still your mingling year," he stated. He waited for a minute before telling Theo the council's decision.

"The council thinks it might be a good idea if you spent your mingling year in your parents' home," he said, he was shocked at the fast and quick response of…

"No! No way," said Theo shaking his head fiercely to emphasize his point.

Bruno was surprised, "why? I thought you would have been delighted with the idea, you seemed to get along fine with them."

"No, I don't want to," came the short reply.

"You have to do better than that if you are to convince me," said Bruno.

For over five minutes there was no answer however Bruno was a patient man, he blew on his own tea and waited. He and Salek had discussed this a lot over the last three months and while Salek was sure that Theo was ready to be on his own and make his choices Bruno wanted to give the boy more time.

They all knew a war was coming, people would have to take sides and many might die, Theo's innocence had already been ripped away from him, there was no sense of sending him out to battle when they could protect him for a few more years. Bruno wanted to give him the enjoyment and some of the childhood he had missed.

Bruno already knew that he would be following this boy to the very gates of hell if that is where he wanted to go and despite all his talk about sending Theo off Bruno knew that Salek would be just a step behind if not ahead.

They already had a huge argument when Bruno realized that Salek caught up to the rescue mission even before they went demon hunting. And he was infuriated that Salek let them go off in the underworld and didn't stop them from travelling to Malek.

Salek had pointed it out that since he had been there nothing would have happened, Bruno was still angry. Theo '_their son_' woke up every night either screaming in pain or crying out in fear just because the idiot darklighter wanted to see if the little group could get themselves out of the jam they found themselves in.

Yes, they had and Theo had proved that he was capable and had gotten everyone out safe and quickly as well. However was the price the boy paid for the stern up memories and the continuous nightmares enough?

Bruno wanted Theo in his mother's house. One the Halliwell manor was one of the safest heavens for the light side at the moment and Theo needed to feel comfortable living in the manor if he was to live there in the coming years in case he needed to. Also he had known Theo for over ten years and the boy had been having nightmares at least for the last eight, he Bruno had not been much of a help, the boy's parents would be determined to help him and they might have a different idea of helping him.

Suddenly there was a quiet answer,

"They lost me," said Derek looking into his tea.

Bruno waited for him to evaluate, while others around Theo prompted him to speak Bruno knew that if you waited Theo would provide you with an answer.

Theo lifted his eyes from his tea to look at Bruno and Bruno saw infinite hurt in those expressive eyes. "Right from my bedroom," said the boy. "And then they thought I was dead and left me and forgot about me."

Bruno was never one for emotional conversations that was Narkey's department and Salek when needed however Bruno found himself in the position of answering. He had never lied to any of his students and he wasn't going to start now just to make nice with a family. He would always say how he felt about situations.

"The fact that they stopped looking for you in my eyes is unforgivable. However every magical detection they had at their disposal said you were dead. They left you behind for only one reason, and that's one," he stopped to see how Theo was taking this, when the boy crocked his head to the side he answered.

"Wyatt," Bruno saw that Theo's eyes got slightly larger at the mention of his brother, the two had formed an unbreakable bond in the last few months and Bruno knew if either was to disappear now the other would tear the world apart to find his other half even when everything else said that the other was dead.

"Your parents buried you and continued with their lives because they had another child to think about. Let me assure you that if there had been the tiniest hint of you being alive your brother would have grown up an orphan."

When Theo looked shocked we went on, "I am not talking about the sense that they would abandon him however they would have dedicated their lives to finding you and your brother would have been raised by your aunts or would have had to raise himself and there probably would have been no Melinda as well."

"However they have not forgotten you," he said. This was the distinction that Theo had to be aware of.

"Your parents wanted to you and loved you and if you were more observant of your surroundings," he said with a pointed look before going on, "you would have noticed that there are more pictures of you in their house then there are of your siblings." This he had noted with his one trip to the manor.

"On the mantle palace there are twelve various family photos and four of them belong to a little four year old child. The same goes for the wall, there are six pictures of the same little child from birth to age four, out of the ten that are on there," he said.

Bruno knew that the little boy in the pictures was Theo. If he had to venture a guess he would think that the theme of the lost little boy would continue through out the house. He guessed that the parents also had a few adult size pictures that they had of their son from when he had time travelled however he guessed that they had been put away for the time being waiting for the appropriate explanation.

Bruno guessed that the feelings Theo was having were like those an adopted child would have upon discovering his own parents, however the Halliwell's had believed that their son was dead however he was not forgotten. If he had to venture a guess the parents talked about their son at least once a day to others and that was one of the reasons Wyatt and Melinda had taken to Theo so easily. For them their brother Chris was someone that their parents mentioned throughout their lives. This was a great distinction for them, they wanted their son to be part of their lives even if their son did not.

"I still don't want to live in their house," said his stubborn student.

"Marcus spent four days of the week with his parents during the mingling year," said Bruno, pointing out the fact he had to spend some time in his parent's house, there was no escape from it.

"Marcus had a lot to learn," said Theo as he poured out more tea first for Bruno then himself.

"Did you just insult your best friend?" asked Bruno, he was sure that he had raised Theo better than that. Theo knew that he was smarter than many of the people he met, faster and stronger in magic however they had always worked on being humble.

Theo gave him a soft smile, "I meant that there was a lot of family traditions and culture to learn. He didn't even speak Mari when he went. It was logical that he spend more time there then here."

"And you somehow think that you have nothing to learn from the Halliwell's?" questioned Bruno.

"Not enough to warrant me to live in their house for the whole year," replied Theo and then looked Bruno straight in the eyes, "a day," he said.

Bruno glared, "you seem to think this is a negotiation," he said and when no answer was fort coming, he relented.

"Five."

"That's almost a week!" exclaimed his student however with the negotiation Bruno knew that Theo had accepted. "Two days," he suggested.

"Three days and that is my final say."

"Why are you so adamant?"

"Did Salek not mention what you could learn from these people?" asked Bruno answering a question with a question.

"I have done well with my powers without them so far, can I not learn the rest without them," said the boy, he could be stubborn when he wanted to be.

Bruno suddenly knew how he was to hook his student, "we will never be able to give you the right knowledge into some of your powers, only the Halliwell's could." He said smugly, knowledge to the extreme was something that his student could not resist. "Also the Halliwell potions are legendary," he added more bait to the hook. After a few minutes of watching tea leaves Theo gave his answer.

"Fine," he gave in, not gracefully but like a sulking child who could not have his way. Bruno tried not to smile at the almost twenty year old who was sulking in his place with his whole demeanor screaming annoying twelve year old.

He knew that the Halliwell's would be ecstatic at having their son under their roof however he hoped they knew what they were getting into. This was going to be an interesting year!


End file.
